


Newton's Apple

by 263Adder



Series: Science for Geniuses, Love for Dummies [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Blue Bloods Reference, Canonical Character Death, Child Neglect, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Kidnapping, Matilda Reference, Police, The Commission, Time Agency, can be read as platonic, child services
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22306399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/263Adder/pseuds/263Adder
Summary: She’d retreated within herself, able to keep calm so long as she remained inside the locked closet with those men far away from her. Their voices permeated the periphery of her enclosed world, but being able to hear them in the distance assured her they weren’t currently coming towards her, so, in a way, it was a comforting noise. Her main guiding hope, however, was that her family were coming for her.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves & Everyone
Series: Science for Geniuses, Love for Dummies [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1471910
Comments: 240
Kudos: 408





	1. Apple

She’d retreated within herself, able to keep calm so long as she remained inside the locked closet with those men far away from her. Their voices permeated the periphery of her enclosed world, but being able to hear them in the distance assured her they weren’t currently coming towards her, so, in a way, it was a comforting noise. Her main guiding hope, however, was that her family were coming for her.

It was hard to be sure exactly how long she had been in there, there was no clock or a window to look out of, but she was confident they’d noticed her absence by now. Given how closely Father monitored them it would be impossible for them _not_ to know someone had taken her.

Vanya pulled her knees tighter to her chest, hoping that would help stop the shaking that seemed to have taken over her entire body. No matter how calm she felt, the shaking wouldn’t stop. It was likely due to fear, yet it had only started after they had kidnapped her. She was sure if Five were there he would be hypothesising over the reason for it; Vanya would pretend to understand, nodding along and praying he wouldn’t ask for more than that. She was nowhere near as smart as him and was terrified that one day he would see through her act and would hate her for it. Her intellect was one of the many things in which she failed to excel.

The men’s voices stopped, and she somehow tightened her grip even further, holding her legs so forcefully she was cutting off blood flow to the limbs, her feet going numb in response. The men usually went quiet right before they came to see her, so far only to deliver food and water but she lived in fear that they’d kill her before her rescue could arrive. She’d been here longer than she had expected to be, at first confident she’d be in the closet for only a few hours, yet her stay had lengthened – something had to be wrong.

A cacophony of sound suddenly erupted from everywhere making Vanya flinch as her ears burned with the noise of glass smashing, doors slamming open and the stomping of boots hastening into the building.

Jumping to her feet, not able to stand fully due to the low ceiling, she kept her back to the corner and watched the door warily. It was yanked open and then there was a gun pointed in her face.

“I got her!” The man at the other end of it yelled over his shoulder. Re-holstering his weapon, he dropped into a crouch so he no longer loomed over her. She realised he was wearing a police uniform.

“Hey there. My name’s Jamie, I’m an officer with the NYPD. You’re safe now.” The brunette told her, sounding slightly out of breath.

Remaining in her corner, Vanya looked over his shoulder, with a hopeful expectation that someone from her family would be there, but she was only greeted with more officers shooting her concerned looks.

“What’s your name?” Jamie prompted.

“Vanya.”

“Vanya...”

“Hargreeves.” She finished.

“Okay, Vanya. Do you want to come with me? This can’t be a very comfortable place to stay?” Jamie asked, glancing around the closet.

“Are they gone?”

He didn’t need clarification. “Yeah, they’re gone. _You’re safe_.”

Jamie held out his hand and after a long moment of staring at it, almost loathe to leave the space with anyone other than her family, the need for freedom finally won out and Vanya walked forward on unsteady knees to accept his support.

“Are you okay to walk?” He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder for guidance.

She nodded but her next step was still wobbly.

“I’m going to pick you up. Is that all right?”

If Five were there, she wondered if he would offer to do that. In all likelihood he would just impatiently drag her from the closet, telling her to close her eyes when they passed anything he thought was too grisly for her to see.

“Okay.”

Putting an arm under her knees, Jaime scooped Vanya up and carried her out of the apartment her kidnappers had taken her to. The rest of the building appeared unoccupied; everything was dirty and uncared for. Police officers swarmed everywhere but she couldn’t see any sign of the Umbrella Academy. For one, there were no crowds outside when she glanced out the nearest window. They followed her siblings everywhere, always pressing to get closer; she was sure one day she would watch as they descended on her family and they would never emerge from the swarm. Second, there were only police cars and an ambulance outside. Father’s car wasn’t there, containing him and Abhijat; waiting with a stopwatch ticking down for his team to return.

It finally seemed to crash down on her that her family weren’t rescuing her.

Vanya raised her arms to clutch at Jaime’s jacket collar.

“You’re okay.” He comforted, offering up more generic, hollow words intended to soothe her as he carried her through the building. Suddenly it felt that those generic words were all that she had. “We’ll call your parents once we get back to the station and they’ll come to get you.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” He reassured as another shudder tore through her. “You’re safe now.”

“I know.” She replied blandly. “I can’t help it, I’ve been like this for a while.”

“When those men took you did they give you anything? Maybe there was a needle or a cloth they tried to put over your mouth?”

Vanya frowned, trying to remember, but it was all a blur. “I’m not sure.”

“Okay, well the paramedics are outside and they’ll check you out. We’ll run some blood work; if they gave you something, sedatives or maybe a narcotic, we need to know.”

“They’re still alive?”

“Yes, but they’re in custody. They won’t get you.” Jamie promised, misunderstanding the motive behind her query. She wasn’t fearful, only surprised. Vanya had expected her family to save her after all, and it was rare, with their powers and Father’s training, that the criminals survived an encounter with the Academy.

There was one lone photographer outside, who had been attracted to the scene by the sudden wave of police cars which had passed him by, who snapped a shot of the pair as Jamie carried her from the building. The flashlight snapped in her face and Vanya’s eyes clenched shut in response; she was definitely getting another headache.

Jamie shouted to the officer’s outside to keep the photographer back, and he left with only one picture.

“Hey.” He called more softly to the paramedics. “Can you do a check-up on Vanya here? She seems unsteady on her feet, I’m worried they might have drugged her.”

“Sure thing.” Another man responded. “Hi, Vanya. I’m Terry. Do you want to come and sit in the ambulance?”

It was a rhetorical question, Jamie lifted Vanya into the bus and set her down on a bed without a word from her. Vanya stared at him until he promised not to stray far from the ambulance. “You need me, you just yell okay? I’ll be right outside.”

“Thank you.” She said thickly, her emotions starting to return now she was free from confinement.

As promised, Jaime didn’t go far. Vanya could hear him making phone calls right outside the ambulance and, most likely, he could hear everything inside the van too.

“Now then, Vanya,” Terry said, sitting on the bench opposite her. “Do you have any injuries? Does anything hurt?”

“No.”

“That’s good. I still need to do some checks before you can go to the police station though, just to make sure. Now, I think I’ll take your blood pressure first, so do you mind taking off your jacket and rolling up your sleeve?”

“No,” Vanya mumbled and started to pull off her blazer.

“You an Umbrella Academy fan?” Terry asked, noticing the emblem on her blazer as she passed it to him, presuming it was a costume.

Her lips pressed into a thin line, suddenly unsure how to respond. No one seemed to have made the connection between her surname and the Umbrella Academy's leader. Her identity was supposed to be a secret, surely she shouldn’t say anything? Yet, if she didn’t, how would she make her way home?

“Hey, it’s okay. Lots of people are. My kids love them. Especially Diego, my son has a poster of him in his room.” Terry chuckled, misconstruing the reason for her discomfort. “Personally I find it a little weird, I don’t want my son aspiring to be a vigilante you know, but my wife says it’s just a phase. So – which one’s your favourite?”

“Five,” Vanya mumbled.

“An odd name though, isn’t it? You gotta wonder what kind of a man gives a kid a number for a name. Although my wife thinks it’s just a nickname.” Terry said, tightening the blood pressure monitor around the arm and pressing his stethoscope to the crook of her arm.

She hummed noncommittally.

“Your blood pressure is low. Have they been feeding you, Vanya?”

“Yeah.”

“You ate everything?”

Vanya nodded. Considering her ordeal, she had been hungrier during her captivity than she could ever remember. After it became clear they weren’t intending to kill her, not right away anyway, and therefore the food shouldn’t be poisoned, she’d eaten everything set in front of her – no matter how unappealing it looked.

“Was your diet okay before?”

She nodded again. While she usually picked at her food, Mom still gave her three square meals a day. Father always told them that was more than a lot of people got and they should always be thankful for it.

“How old are you?”

“Thirteen.”

“Are you on any medication?”

“I take pills for anxiety. I don’t know their name though.”

“I’m sure it will be on your medical records. How are you feeling without them?”

Besides the incessant shaking and the odd headache, she felt unexpectedly well. “Good.”

“Might be time to lower your dose in that case,” Terry observed. “Do you know your doctor’s name?”

Without thinking, Vanya explained: “I don’t have a doctor. My Father gave me them.”

Terry looked at her thoughtfully, picking up a chart to add some information after a moment. Without looking up, he asked: “What is your Dad’s name?”

That made her think.

“Look, I promise – no one will blame you for what happened. Your parents will be happy to see you.” Terry reassured.

“How is everything going?” Jaime asked, stepping back into the bus.

Terry glanced at the police officer and brought him up to speed with his medical examination. “I still need to withdraw blood but I was just trying to ask Vanya what her parents are called so I can find out her medical history.”

“You said your last name was Hargreeves?” Jaime asked. “Do you know your folks’ first names? Or just a home number.”

Vanya blinked. She had no _clue_ what the Academy’s telephone number was – she’d never needed to, she so rarely left the house.

“An address?” Jaime prompted.

She started to chew her lip and Jaime sighed. “Okay. It’s okay, we’ll figure it all out at the station.”

He turned to Terry. “Can I have a word?”

The two men moved away from the ambulance, speaking quietly to each other. Somehow Vanya could still hear them.

“I’ll call child services in. It’s procedure anyway, but I’m getting the feeling this girl’s in no rush to get home. Might be from an abusive background, so I want to get an expert in.” Jaime said. “Has she mentioned anything that could be of use?”

“Apparently her Dad gives her pills for anxiety. But she doesn’t know what they’re called, she’s never visited a doctor who prescribed them, and, apparently, she feels fine off them. It raised some flags in my book.”

“Okay, thanks, Terry. Let me know when you’ve got the blood samples and I’ll drive her to the station. Maybe she’ll tell us more once we’re away from here.”

“Poor kid,” Terry muttered, climbing back into the bus with nothing but smiles to offer. Vanya looked at him guardedly.

He continued her check-up, eventually concluding that she appeared to be in a clean bill of health despite having just been freed from captivity. “We just need some blood, if that’s okay with you? I’ll send it to the hospital and they’ll confirm if there’s anything in your system, although you seem fine from the tests I was able to run in here. You were probably shaking from delayed shock. I’ll contact the first aider at the station you’re going to anyway, who will keep an eye on you, and if you feel unwell at all go and see him. Once your results come back and we’re sure you’re okay, I’ll let him and your family know.”

Once he had his vials of blood and he’d made her eat a biscuit and drink some juice, Jaime took Vanya to one of the police cars. His partner, Eddie, was driving, so he sat in the back with her.

Vanya wondered what Eddie was short for, since it obviously wasn’t Edward, but didn’t have the courage to ask.

“Take us ‘round back, would you Eddie?” Jaime asked when he noticed a couple more photographers outside the main entrance to the station.

“Vultures,” She scoffed, doing as asked.

They took Vanya to the break room, instead of the interview rooms, where the first aider was waiting for them along with a woman Vanya presumed worked with child services.

It was the woman who first approached, crouching down and offering a hand for Vanya to shake.

“Hello, Vanya. My name’s Mary Thorogood. I was asked to come to stay with you until we can get you back to your family.”

Vanya avoided the hand, looking down at the ground.

Jaime and Eddie stayed and Vanya preferred to sit with them while they chatted to each other. Mary was looking over the paramedic notes and talking with the first aider, Jim, about her case.

Apparently, Vanya hadn’t been reported missing, but some people had seen her forced into a car a block away from the Academy and reported it in. The police had launched an investigation, eventually tracking her to the disused apartment block. There were still no missing person reports that matched her description.

Vanya sunk a little lower in her chair when she heard that and was glad of the distraction when Eddie offered to teach her a card game. She threw herself into the game, not wanting to think about what it all meant, and almost missed Jim receiving a call from the hospital about her blood tests.

“What’s that?” He asked, crossing the room. Jim paused for the answer, closing the door behind him. “I’ve never heard of that in an antidepressant before.”

“But...”

“Oh, okay. So what should I...”

“Yeah, child services are here. I’ll tell her. Can you fax that report to us?”

Jim ended the call. He opened the break room door and beckoned Mary to follow him. Instead of lingering outside they moved further away, beyond Vanya’s earshot.

“Hey,” Eddie said kindly, “I’m sure you’re fine.”

“Yeah,” Jamie concurred, “Doctors are always overcautious.”

Vanya gave them a small smile and accepted a new card to add to her hand. They continued to play until Mary came back.

“Vanya?” Mary said, drawing her attention from the game. “We’ve looked up your name in the city’s birth records but we weren’t able to find you. Were you born somewhere else?”

“I’m not sure where I was born.” She said. “Father adopted me.”

“Do you know where?” Mary pressed.

Shaking her head elicited exasperated expressions from every adult in the room; they didn’t school them fast enough to avoid her notice.

A sharp rap on the door interrupted them before Vanya could consider coming clean about her identity. An officer came in and asked the police officers to come with him, his tone was urgent. When they were left alone, Mary tried again.

“Vanya – we really need to get in contact with your parents, otherwise we’ll have to put you into foster care tonight. Can you give me a phone number or your address? Or even just your parent’s names? You said your surname was Hargreeves, I just need a first name.”

“I don’t call him by his first name.” She postponed.

Mary sighed. “Vanya, if there’s any reason that you don’t want to go home it’s best that you tell me. My entire reason for being here is to help you. All you need to do is ask.”

Her feet dangled on the tall chair, and she slowly kicked out her legs while she thought. Finally, she said: “No one reported me missing.”

“No.” Mary exhaled.

“Maybe they don’t want me back home,” Vanya said, more to herself than to Mary.

“I’m sure that’s not true.” Mary encouraged, picking up Vanya’s hand – which she hadn’t even noticed she’d curled into a fist, her nails digging into her palm.

“Maybe they haven’t noticed I’m gone.”

Mary grimaced, familiar with both scenarios she was suggesting.

Jamie slipped back in the room. When he entered, Vanya noticed two police officers taking up watch beside the door.

“Is everything all right, officer?” Mary asked, spotting the same thing.

He cleared his throat, looking at Vanya carefully. “The two men who abducted you were just found dead in the FBI’s holding cells. We don’t know how yet, and until we do the station is on lockdown. No one goes in or out. Shouldn’t last long, the coroner is already on her way and the FBI will notify us once they’ve confirmed cause of death.”

Someone had killed the men who took her? Vanya immediately thought of her family, wondering if perhaps they were behind it – but even they wouldn’t kill someone after they had been apprehended. It had to be something else. And if it was something else, did that mean she was in danger too? There wouldn’t be police officers guarding the door if they didn’t think there was a possibility of that.

Vanya had wanted her family all evening, even as the hollowness of their absence gnawed away at her, but in that second she felt prepared to run all the way home through this unexplored city just to be back in their company – especially Five’s. They would protect her. What could these police officers even do to keep her safe, her family were always raving about their incompetence?

And yet, a voice added, it was the police who found her. Maybe her family weren’t right about everything. Maybe she _was_ safer here.

“Vanya?” Mary called, squeezing her hand. “You know you’re safe here? We won’t leave you alone, we’re all here for you.”

“Yeah. Everyone keeps saying that.” She replied vacantly, rubbing her temple. The headache that had begun when she left the building was still there, needling at her. A part of her almost wished she was still in that closet; while she’d been living in fear, at least she hadn’t been at risk of incurring her Father’s wrath. The possibility of her identity being discovered was keeping her on edge.

“Have we had any luck with her family yet?” Jaime asked Mary.

“No, but I’ll keep searching,” Mary said.

“Well I’m stuck here with the building locked down, and Eddie said she’d come back up. We can sit with Vanya if you need to go do anything?” He offered.

“Thanks, I might just check the data archives again. Look up the city’s adoption records.”

Eddie dealt the cards again and tried a more evasive way to ask about Vanya’s background. “Did I tell you, Jamie, that my brother invited us to his house this weekend for a barbeque?”

“Paul or Ryan?”

“Paul.” She replied.

“Oh if it’s Paul I’m in. He makes the best burgers.” Jaime told Vanya.

“You better not let your Dad hear that.” Eddie chuckled. “Do you have any siblings Vanya?”

Accepting the cards Eddie passed her, Vanya said that she did.

“Brothers? You look like a girl who’s suffered through brothers.”

“Five of them.”

Jaime whistled. “Man, I thought I had it bad having three siblings. You’ve got _five_ of them!”

“Six in total,” Vanya mumbled.

“Christ, you deserve a medal,” Eddie exclaimed. “You and your sister must be close then, what with all those boys around?”

Shaking her head, Vanya confessed: “I think she hates me. She prefers to spend time with the others.”

“You must be close to someone?” Jaime encouraged.

She couldn’t say Five’s name without tipping them off about her relationship to the Umbrella Academy – it wasn’t exactly a common name. Instead, she said Ben, thinking it was generic enough to escape their attention.

“Ben Hargreeves?” Eddie said. “Aren’t one of those Umbrella Academy kids called that?”

Vanya’s hair was covering the Academy’s emblem, but she knew Terry had noticed it earlier, maybe Jamie had too.

“My niece loves the Umbrella Academy.” Jaime sighed. “She’s constantly complaining that my sister won’t let her have any of their merchandise.”

“Why not?” Vanya asked.

Jaime snorted. “There are a lot of cops in my family, and the Umbrella Academy isn’t exactly popular around the precincts.”

“They aren’t?” She frowned. From all she had heard, and the little she had seen, the Academy was universally adored.

“We catch bad guys, we have that in common,” Eddie explained. “But we have a system. We follow laws, we try to ensure that everyone comes out of the situation alive and unhurt, even the bad guys. The tactics the Umbrella Academy use rub a lot of people the wrong way. Not just cops but people in every part of the legal system.”

“Take that hostage situation the other month.” Jaime continued. “We would have taken longer, but I bet you most of those perps would have come out in handcuffs – not body bags. A few of my buddies secured the scene afterwards. Apparently, some of those guys were in _pieces_.”

Vanya shuddered again and Eddie mistook it for revulsion.

“Anyway. They’ve done lots of good too, we can’t forget that.” She said, changing the subject.

“Like the news would ever let us.” Jaime scoffed. “No one should be above the law.”

Jaime stood up and said he would go and get something to drink. After asking if anyone else wanted anything he left the room.

“Don’t mind him, he used to be a law student before joining the force, so he’s a real stickler for the rules.”

“I don’t mind,” Vanya said thoughtfully. “I guess I’d just never considered it before.”

“They’re popular for a reason.” Eddie mused. “I mean, _superpowers_. It still doesn’t seem real to me. I’m sure one day the curtain will fall down and we’ll discover it’s all just been buttons and switches.”

Vanya gave her a bewildered look.

“Never seen the Wizard of Oz, huh?”

“I’ve read the book,” Vanya said, suddenly understanding Eddie’s reference.

“Did you read it at school?”

“I’m home-schooled.” She replied, slumping back in her chair.

“Really,” Eddie said thoughtfully, picking up her hand of cards and studying it. “That sounds lonely. Does your Dad teach you?”

“My Mom.”

“What’s your Mom’s name?”

There was no harm giving it, Vanya’s Mother wouldn’t be on any records. “Grace.”

“Grace, that’s a nice name.” Eddie smiled, glancing up as Jaime came back in the room with a bundle of food in his hands.

“Vanya, I didn’t know what you’d like so I just grabbed one of everything.” He greeted, dropping everything onto the table.

“Jaime.” Eddie laughed, sifting through the pile until she found her favourite brand of chips.

“Hey, Vanya gets first dibs,” Jaime said, swiping the packet from her hands.

“What are they?” Vanya asked when she was handed the foil packet.

“Potato chips?”

Mimicking Eddie’s action, Vanya opened the bag and pulled out a chip, looking at it curiously.

“Your folks don’t let you eat junk food, huh?”

Shaking her head, she took a bite out of the food and flinched as it cracked under her teeth. The snap seemed far too loud.

“Yum.” She said after chewing for a moment.

“Maybe you should try to find some fruit?” Eddie said to Jaime.

“No, it’s fine,” Vanya assured, eating the salty snack with more enthusiasm than she had first shown. After a few more bites she even started to enjoy the novel food.

Eddie picked up the remote, since the food had distracted them from any chance of finishing their earlier card game, and switched on the TV. It had been left on the news channel.

There were no presenters on the screen, just an enlarged photo with a breaking news caption over it, an appeal for information below. It didn’t take long for them to recognise Vanya and Jaime’s faces.

Eddie hastily switched the television off as Mary re-entered the room. Jim came with her, a small, metal tray in his hand with a needle resting on it.

“Hi, Vanya. I know this is probably the last thing you want, but would you mind if we take another blood sample? We’re still having trouble identifying what’s in your system and need to run some additional tests.”

“Of course.” She replied, trained to be obedient when asked for things.

“We’ll just go into my office. It’s only down the corridor.” Jim assured, pulling her away from the two police officers.

Vanya strained to hear what was happening in the break room as she left with Jim and amazingly could still overhear everything, even when she was squirreled away in Jim’s small office several doors down.

“Vanya said she was adopted, but I’ve just gone through the adoption records and I can find no one under that name. If her parents are from the city, she should be in there.”

“Maybe they move around a lot?” Eddie suggested. “Can the FBI help? They’re still involved right?”

“Yes,” Jaime answered. “We’ve already got some of their agents downstairs. They’ll want to interview Vanya soon, but I’ve held them off so she’d get a chance to relax a bit first.”

“I’ll pass what information I have along to them. Have you got anything else from her?”

“She told me her Mom was called Grace.” Eddie said. “We still don’t have a name for her Dad though. And she said she’s home-schooled, so we might not even get any phone-ins from people watching the news report.”

“The news report?” Mary asked sharply.

“Someone got a picture of Vanya earlier, it’s on the news.” Jaime sighed.

“Well if you can get anything else from her, I’d appreciate it if you let me know.” Mary groaned. “I think she’s warmed to you two, you might have better luck than me.”

“Yeah, sure we will,” Eddie assured. “We just want to get her home.”

“If home’s the right place for her to be.” Jaime amended.

“Apparently a land of no movies or potato chips.” She concurred.

Jim didn’t comment on Vanya’s absentness, chalking it up to trauma from her ordeal. No one, Vanya included, realised that she could hear conversations far beyond the average human’s hearing range.

He took them back to the break room once he had his new vial of blood, Vanya thinking all the while.

No adoption records. That might mean her father wasn’t even legally her father, and her siblings weren’t her siblings, Vanya considered. Five had floated the idea before, that Father’s – Reginald’s – acquisition of them might not be entirely legal. With his wealth, however, Vanya would have thought it wouldn’t be difficult to draw up papers for them all. He had a fleet of lawyers on hand after all to do just that.

Eddie welcomed her back.

“Hey, good news. Jaime’s sister dropped off some of her daughter’s old clothes. She said you could keep them, as we have nothing for you at the station. It must have been a while since you had a chance to freshen up?”

Jaime held up a small duffle bag, which contained several outfits and a few pairs of shoes.

“They’re all clean.” He assured. “She planned to take them to Goodwill, but I figured you must be around the same age as my niece so I asked her to bring them here instead. You can take whatever you want.”

Vanya waited until she was in the bathroom to paw through the offerings, particularly thrilled with a pair of jeans with some blue flowers embroidered on the leg. She never got to wear trousers at home. Partnering it with a thick blue jumper, which was surprisingly fluffy considering it was second hand, Vanya was about to put her own shoes back on but stopped when she saw the soles were ready to fall off – the damage likely done when she was dragged to the kidnapper’s car – and felt a flash of embarrassment as she realised she’d been walking around the station in them for most of the day. She took some sneakers from the bag, which were a little big for her but were far comfier than the ones Father provided her with.

“You look nice, Vanya. Does everything fit okay?” Eddie asked when she returned to the break room.

Nodding enthusiastically, Vanya sat down next to her, feeling increasingly comfortable with the woman.

Clearing his throat, Jaime leaned across the table, his arms tightly crossed over his chest.

“Vanya, the FBI were planning to wait until your family arrived but – as it’s taking a while to locate them – they’re getting eager to start an interview with you soon. Could you maybe start thinking about what you’ll put in your statement? A statement is what we use to...”

“I know.” She quietly interrupted, quite familiar with police procedural after listening to the Academy’s many tales of heroics.

“Okay. Well, we won’t ask for an official statement until your guardian is here. But while everything is still fresh in your memory, the lead agent thought it might be a good idea for you to note some things down. With the culprits dead, we will have to pursue other avenues to investigate the extent of the organisation. Whether there were other people involved.” He elaborated. “It would be useful if we could learn what you saw while you were there so we can continue the investigation.”

“Not much. I was in that closet most of the time.”

“That must have been very difficult.” Eddie sympathised, shooting a look at Jaime warning him to back off.

“I’m used to small spaces,” Vanya mumbled. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“If you saw anyone, we could get a sketch artist...”

Shaking her head, Vanya said they always wore masks when she saw them.

“Could you describe the masks? We might be able to figure out where they were purchased.”

“I can probably draw them.” She offered, thinking of the two cartoonish masks that leered down at her. “I’m not brilliant at drawing but, I _think_ I can.”

“That would be great,” Eddie assured. “I’ll go get you some paper.”

She had expected it to be difficult to put the faces to paper, but it was rather cathartic. Passing along the sheets as she finished, Jaime gathered them up to give to the lead detective.

It was getting dark outside the station, and Mary was reluctantly starting to accept Vanya would need to go into foster care for the night. While she started making arrangements, Eddie switched the television back on. She was relieved to see another story had eclipsed news of Vanya’s recovery which was now further down on the news bulletin.

Watching as she switched the box on, Vanya sighed when she saw her siblings appear on the screen; feeling a momentary relief to see their faces. It felt like an eternity since she’d last seen them. That feeling was lost however when she saw the headline.

“They’re in Paris?” She asked numbly.

They were all stood outside the Place de la Bastille – which Vanya recognised from her French lessons – the smiles Father had taught them to perform before the cameras plastered broadly over their faces as they stood beneath the bright sun, hundreds of cameras surrounding them.

“Yeah, they stopped some art heist. I think they’re getting a key to the city now from the mayor or whoever.” Eddie explained. “Every time I’ve looked at the news today they’ve been on it, always somewhere different, I think they’re having a tour or something.”

Her siblings had been touring Paris while she was locked in a closet?

“Woah,” Jaime said, looking out the window, “where did all this rain come from? I thought they forecast us clear skies for the whole week?”

Vanya barely noticed what was happening outside, more focused on ducking her head to subtly wipe away a traitorous tear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Adder, aren't you meant to be finishing Metamorphosis, your WIP? And what about Then and Now, that's overdue an update? Plus you promised a second chapter of Polchinski’s Paradox. Aaaand you're meant to be finalising edits to your book so you can start sending it to publishers..."
> 
> I KNOW!!! 😭 But I got this idea and had to write it. Plus Metamorphosis is being a stubborn WIP so really I had no choice but to write something new! Forgive me.


	2. Fall

Turning onto his stomach, Five thought he caught of a whiff of Vanya’s hair as he moved but the loud snores emanating from Klaus’ bed quickly extinguished the dream.

Cracking open an eye, he glanced at the alarm clock which glowed green in the dark room. It was nearly one in the morning, nine in the evening for Vanya back in New York. Far too early for him to be awake; even Vanya should be in bed by this hour – provided Grace was keeping her to schedule, which he imagined she was.

While Vanya was at home, Five was stuck sharing a hotel room with Klaus and Diego. Ben, Luther and Allison were in the room next door, all the bedrooms situated inside the presidential suite Reginald had booked. Not that Reginald was ever around. Besides their mission at the art gallery and at the press photo opportunities he had organised, Reginald had been conspicuously absent for much of the four-day trip. What he was up to was anyone’s guess, all he told them was that it was business related.

Five had been too busy to ask further questions about Reginald’s disappearances – constantly being shepherded from site to site, pretending to be amazed by the attractions before him, tempering down the scowl that wanted to emerge. All they had done was protect some paintings, which were likely insured for millions of dollars. It wasn’t like they’d saved anyone’s life. Not that you’d think that from hearing the press’ reports on them. As usual, the media danced to the tune Reginald played and declared the Umbrella Academy as the world’s saviours.

Blessedly, the trip would end in a few hours, and they would all board the plane to return home. Things would get back to normal. Local missions, daily lessons, endless training and risking his skin every night jumping to Vanya’s room after lights out.

Smuggled amongst his clothes, bundled up in his socks so no one should find them, he’d procured some gifts for her. It wouldn’t fix the pain of being excluded from the international trip and all the sightseeing that – for her – would have been enjoyable. But for now, measly gifts were all he could give her.

He looked forward to seeing her expression when he handed them over.

Rolling onto his back, Five shut his eyes and tried to focus on that. Drowning out Klaus’ snores would be a challenge, but the promise of returning home incentivised him to fall back to sleep. They would need to be up at the crack of dawn to head to the airport. They’d be back in New York that afternoon.

* * *

The rain was still pouring outside the windows and the news had switched from the Umbrella Academy’s latest success and the rescue of a child from her kidnappers to the possibility of flash floods shutting down parts of the city’s transit system.

“Maybe we won’t be going to Paul’s this weekend,” Jaime said to Eddie, keeping an eye on the weather.

“I’m more worried about getting out of here tonight. Did you hear them saying about the wind speed reaching _sixty_? They might shut down one of the bridges.” She sighed, pushing a hand through her hair to pull it out of its ponytail.

“There are always the bunks in the station.” Jaime pointed out.

“They smell like stinky feet,” Eddie complained. “I want _my_ bed.”

“Doesn’t everyone.” He agreed. “What about you Vanya? Are you looking forward to getting back to yours? You must be tired, I can’t imagine you were able to sleep much these last few days.”

“I slept fine,” Vanya replied truthfully, absently staring at the wall beside the window rather than out of it. There was a slight crack in the plaster which she focused on for no real reason other than the fact she didn’t want to think about her current situation, and the patterns in the plaster gave her something to focus on.

Jamie and Eddie were still trying to get her to tell them where she lived. At this point she thought even if she _did_ tell them she lived at the Umbrella Academy they wouldn’t believe her; they’d just think she was trying to postpone going back to her real home by telling lies. Because how could a child live at the Umbrella Academy who the entire world knew nothing about? A situation which would apparently remain indefinite, since Father hadn’t even wanted to risk telling the police of her abduction, so scared was he of the public learning about the _ordinary one_.

“Well, why don’t you try to get some sleep now? It’s getting late, and I don’t think the guy coming to collect you will get through this weather.” Eddie suggested kindly.

Vanya glanced at the clock in the corner. It _was_ late, past the time for lights out at the Academy. Vanya wondered what time it was in Paris.

Escorting her to one of the bunks, Eddie promised she’d come back to check on her in a little while and that the police officers who were minding the break room were now stationed outside her makeshift bedroom.

She kicked off her new sneakers but left the rest of her clothes on, uncomfortable as sleeping in jeans would be.

Peeling back the covers, Vanya felt the action was almost foreign – pausing to savour the feeling of refreshingly clean sheets between her fingers – as it had been so long since she’d slept in a bed. Let alone in a bed by herself.

Slipping in she allowed herself to unwind for the first time in nearly a week, back when Five had been laying beside her, speaking again of his plans for them to run away. His promises had felt so real at the time but after the week she had just endured, it was hard to believe any words from her family’s mouths anymore. After all, how much could he really want to run off with her when he was posing for the cameras while she was locked in a closet?

Father could always hide the truth from the others of course. Or maybe Reginald didn’t know what had happened. Vanya hadn’t seen hide or hair of Pogo or Grace when she was kidnapped, maybe they had been taken too? Or incapacitated? Maybe they were dead?

There was no window in the room, but even through the thick walls, Vanya could hear the crack of lightning outside. The abrupt sound tore her from her panicked thoughts and brought her back to her current situation.

She was safe there, for now, it seemed. So far no one in the building had let her down and – when compared to her family – that was quite the accomplishment in Vanya’s eyes. They had saved her and seemed determined to _keep_ her safe. They’d fed her, given her nice new clothes and let her take part in their games. The longer she spent there, the less concerned she became about how she would return home. The concern about how she would be received once returned, however, still plagued her.

With a sigh, she shuffled onto her side – the movement jerky as her jeans chafed against the bed sheets. Forcing her eyes shut, she drifted into a fitful sleep with dreams of ever-shrinking closets and screams for help going unanswered. While Vanya dozed, the storm became more erratic; lulling during her peaceful moments but surging at the peaks of her nightmares.

Her calls were finally heard and her siblings emerged from the gloom, all towering over her huddled figure and glaring down at her with disdain.

“Why do you have to ruin _everything_?” Allison snarled, her voice reverberating around the dark enclosure.

“Couldn’t you _see_ we were having fun?” Diego added.

“You couldn’t handle yourself even _once_ , could you?” Ben huffed.

“What do you expect?” Five sighed. “She’s only _ordinary_ after all.”

“No, Five.” Vanya whimpered, extending a hand which he shrunk away from.

“Let’s go.” Luther decided. “We have more important things to deal with than _her_.”

“Goodbye, _Number Seven_.” Klaus chuckled, as darkness descended over their figures – leaving her alone in the gloom once more with nothing but the echoes of their offending words to keep her company.

“No! Come back, _please_! _Five_!” She screamed for him, but he never returned.

The swipe of a finger over her brow made her eyes shoot open and for a moment she expected to see Five looming over her, his hair falling into his eyes as he looked down at her in concern. Instead of his brown hair, however, Vanya saw a sheet of gold and realised it was Eddie who had come to check on her.

“Hey, you’re not getting sick are you?” Eddie asked gently, removing her hand from Vanya’s temples. “You’re running a little hot.”

Shaking her head, Vanya confessed to having a nightmare.

“That’s understandable,” Eddie reassured. “I’d have nightmares too if I went through what you have.”

“I usually have nightmares.” Vanya mumbled, pulling her hair from her neck as it was sticking there.

“Don’t your anxiety meds help with that?”

“Not really. They’re normally not this vivid though. Plus I’m not usually alone.”

“Does your Mom look after you?”

Shaking her head as she pushed herself upright, Vanya said her brother did.

“Your favourite – Ben, right?”

“No, another one.” She replied, still avoiding the use of Five’s name.

“We want to get you back to them, Vanya. You just have to tell us where to find them.” Eddie encouraged.

“They don’t _want_ me.”

Eddie opened her mouth to refute that, but the absence of a missing person’s claim was hard to argue with. “Your brother does though, doesn’t he?” She said instead. “You said you’re close, that he looks after you. He must miss you – don’t you want to get back to him?”

“I don’t know anymore.” Vanya exhaled shakily, letting her hair fall over her face to hide the fear settling over her features. Eddie pushed it back behind her ear.

“I know this has been very difficult for you. And I want you to know how brave we all think you are.” Eddie encouraged.

“You won’t believe me.” She said despairingly.

“Try me,” Eddie said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

“My Father...” Vanya tried, having to swallow to push back the lump that rose up her throat, “he...his...he’s – he’s Reginald Hargreeves.”

“Reginald Hargreeves?” Eddie repeated, her eyebrows raising. “ _The_ Reginald Hargreeves? From the Umbrella Academy?”

Vanya nodded, her eyes slipping shut so she wouldn’t have to see Eddie’s reaction.

“Okay. Well, that would explain a lot.”

Glancing at the woman, Vanya couldn’t believe the seriousness on her face; thinking she had to be mocking her.

“They’re out of the country this week, so it would explain the lack of a missing person’s report,” Eddie explained. “A connection to the Umbrella Academy would make you a target for kidnapping, and we’ve been missing a motive so far. You were wearing the uniform when you were found and I’ve never seen a replica that good. The police have tried looking up the records for the Umbrella Academy kids before and have never found a paperwork trail, so that might be why we can’t find any information on you. It makes sense. I believe you.” Eddie assured.

Vanya’s bottom lip wobbled and when the first tear escaped, Eddie unhesitatingly pulled her into a warm hug.

* * *

The front door to the Academy was open. Not unusual, as Pogo would expect their return, but Reginald seemed wary when he saw this. Luther entered before him, tentatively walking past their quiet Father, but whatever he saw on the other side of the entry had him sprinting inside.

Pushing the door open the rest of the way, Five noticed a streak of blood on the wall opposite them.

“Secure the building,” Reginald ordered, and the children quickly divided into groups to search the house.

Five was with Ben and they didn’t need to confer to know they were going to the children’s floor first. Hurrying along the corridor, Five went straight for Vanya’s room while Ben routinely checked all the other doors along the way for any sign of an intruder. Five didn’t bother, the blood on the wall was dry. Whatever had happened was long over.

Vanya’s bedroom was a mess, a far cry from its usual orderliness. Her sheets were on the floor, the music stand knocked over and her violin abandoned in the middle of it all with its fragile neck broken, the strings barely holding the pieces of the instrument together. Five slowly picked it up and held it close while he waited for Ben to catch up. He could still hear him making his way along the hall, the doors banging open as he searched.

“Shit.” Ben eventually muttered behind him.

Setting Vanya’s violin carefully on her desk, Five turned to look at his brother – well aware that he had lost his usual composure. He tugged a hand roughly through his hair to ground himself.

“Hey, we’ll figure this out,” Ben said, urging him forward. “Everything will be on the tapes and we’ll find her. Okay?”

Would they like what they found?

“That was a lot of blood in the hall.” Five mumbled, more to himself than his brother, as Ben hurried him back downstairs. Someone as small as Vanya couldn’t handle losing that much blood.

Downstairs he could hear sobbing. As soon as he heard it, Five ran past Ben.

“What is it?” Five demanded as he rounded the door into the library.

No one needed to answer him, Pogo’s body answered the question.

“We think it was his blood in the hall, it led here,” Luther said thickly, looking down at the body but no longer seeing it. “Have you found Vanya?”

“Her room’s a mess, it looks like whoever did this took her.” Ben supplied, turning his head away from Pogo’s remains, unable to look. “Mom?”

“Dad’s trying to fix her to get some information on what happened. She was pretty badly damaged though.” Luther replied. “She’s been offline ever since.”

“Have we got any of the footage?” Five asked.

“Diego checked but the cameras have been down for the last three days. There’s nothing on there.”

“It was a professional then?”

“Looks that way. If Mom couldn’t hold them off...”

“Maybe Pogo got a call out to the police?” Ben suggested. “Maybe they know something?”

“When do the police know anything?” Luther groaned.

“There’s a set in Dad’s study, it might be on the news,” Ben said.

“There would be crime scene tape on the front door if they knew anything about it. And the bod... _they_ wouldn’t still be here if they knew.”

“I’ll check the news.” Five said, ignoring Luther’s rare foray into logical deduction, desperate for something to do. No one stopped him leave, too busy tending to Mom or mourning Pogo. Five felt mildly guilty that he wasn’t concerned about either.

It was the end of the news cycle, the main stories wouldn’t come up until the next half-hour – which was a few minutes away. Sitting heavily on the couch opposite the television set, Five clenched his hands and willed time to move faster.

“And before we go to John for the weather,” the cheerful announcer said, “the police are still appealing for information on a recently recovered child from this week’s shocking kidnapping story. For viewer’s unfamiliar with the story...”

A photo flashed up on the screen while the woman spoke.

Five didn’t hear what she said; the world had gone quiet as soon as he had seen Vanya’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is quite short, but all this was necessary to move the plot along. Plus I haven't been in a great headspace lately so this was as good as I could do. I will try to update soon. 
> 
> Thank you for all the encouraging comments left on the last chapter, I always really appreciate them - they keep me writing 😊


	3. Gravity

Overnight, Vanya had been joined by Jaime and Eddie who had taken up beds in the adjacent bunk. Reassured by their presence, she had slept peacefully. When morning broke, the storm was over.

She was finally roused by Mary and informed that the FBI were ready to take her statement. They had intended to wait until she went into the foster care system but, as she had been stranded at the police station by last night’s storm, they decided to proceed that morning.

According to Jamie, they had found little at the crime scene and were low on leads in their investigation into Vanya’s kidnapping. “So they’re hoping to learn more from your statement. We’ll take you to their headquarters in the city.” He explained. “Eddie and I will drive you up there, and Mary will go in with you.”

“You think you’re up to it?” Eddie asked.

“Yes,” Vanya said, twisting her fingers together nervously. “Will I see you again?”

“Of _course_ you will.”

“ _Absolutely_.” They both instantly agreed.

“You’ve got to meet my niece and nephews sometime,” Jaime promised.

“We’ll come to check up on you later today if we don’t get any emergency call outs. Okay?”

“Yeah,” she smiled. The two officers beamed back at her, pleased to see a grin on the girl’s face after her tears the night before.

“And while I remember,” Jaime rooted through his gym back. “I went out before turning in last night...”

“You went out in _that_?” Eddie exclaimed. “Christ, Jaime – don’t tell me my partner has a death wish.”

“It was only a _little_ rain.” He brushed off. “Anyway, I got you this.”

Extended in his hand was a small, stuffed rabbit.

“I know it’s a rabbit’s foot which is meant to be lucky, but that’s just grim, so I went for the whole rabbit. I thought it might help to have something during your interview.”

Vanya took it from him and stroked the soft grey fur delicately.

“Thank you.”

“It’s pretty small.” Jaime shrugged.

“It’s perfect. Thank you, Jaime.” Vanya said, swallowing thickly.

No one had ever given her a toy before, it was only something her siblings’ got. Five had once tried to give her a teddy bear his fans had thrown at him, but Father had quickly confiscated it. She wondered how long Reginald would let her keep this toy when she finally returned home. Knowing it would likely be snatched off her before she could walk through the front door, Vanya held it tighter, determined to savour its presence.

“You’re welcome.” He grinned, pleased by her response.

Mary walked up to the trio and hastened them along.

“Hey, are we all ready to get going? I’ve been in touch with the lead agent and he’s expecting us at ten-thirty.”

“Yeah, our squad car is parked out back.”

“That’s good. Now the weather has cleared there are some reporters outside again, looking for more information.” Mary grimaced. “The FBI has said they’ll release a statement in an hour or two, which should hold them off, but for now it’s probably best we stick to the back door to avoid being seen.”

They all piled into the police car, Eddie sitting in the back with Vanya while Mary rode upfront with Jamie. Somehow the reporters knew it was Vanya who was in the car, as they were waiting near the parking lot gates and the bulbs flashed as they passed by. She ducked her head and tried to avoid being seen; it was an ingrained habit.

“Vultures,” Eddie muttered, repeating her sentiments from when Vanya had first been brought to the station.

Jamie drove the car right up to the front door and Mary and Vanya hastened out of the car and into the building to avoid any more unwanted attention. They were soon met by the lead detective on Vanya’s case, Agent Holdsworth.

“Hello, Vanya.” He greeted, stooping to Vanya’s level and offering a hand for her to shake. “It’s odd this is the first time we’ve met in person, I’ve been working on your case for quite a while now.”

“Agent Holdsworth was made the lead detective on your case as soon as you were reported missing,” Mary explained.

“You can just call me Shawn,” he corrected. “No need for formalities.”

“Okay.”

He led them to one of the interview rooms, where he produced a notepad and placed it on the metal table before her.

“Would you rather tell me what happened and I write it down? Or would you like to write it yourself?” Shawn asked.

“I’ll write it,” Vanya said, taking the proffered pen. She felt that writing about her kidnapping would be easier than reliving it out loud, however as soon as she put pen to paper her mind froze. “What do you want me to say?”

“Just anything that you can remember.” Shawn encouraged.

“I don’t remember much.” She apologised, her eyes dropping to the table as she expected a scolding for her failure.

“That’s okay. A lot of victims struggle to remember specific details. It was traumatic.” He assured her. “Just focus on what you _can_ remember. Where were you when this all started?”

“My bedroom,” Vanya replied hesitantly.

“Are you sure?” Shawn pressed, sensing her doubt.

“Fairly. It’s a bit hazy.”

“Even before you were kidnapped?” He asked.

Nodding, Vanya explained how her mother had given her two of her anxiety pills that morning instead of the usual one. “I was upset about my siblings’ being gone, and she said it would calm me down.” Turning to Mary, Vanya explained having two pills sometimes made her muddled.

“I went to my room to play – my violin that is – and after a little while, I noticed the hallway light had gone out. It was dark that day, like there was a storm coming, I remember that.”

“What did you do when you realised the light had gone out?”

“I went out of my room to see what was going on,” Vanya said, trying to think. “And then I heard a bang downstairs. I tried to go towards it but then there were footsteps, loud like someone was running, and I went back into my room.”

“A bang? Like a gun?”

“No.” She knew what those sounded like from her siblings’ training sessions. “Like something had been thrown against a wall.”

“Was someone else in the house? Your Mom?”

“Yeah, my Mom was there.”

“Anyone else?”

“Pogo.”

“And who’s Pogo?”

Biting her lip, Vanya said he was a friend of her Father’s. “He’s usually at the house.”

“Okay. Did you see either of them during the attack?” Shawn asked, pulling the paper away from her and clicking his own pen open to jot down notes.

“ _No_.”

“What happened after you went to your room?”

She hesitated, exhaling shakily as she let herself think about it. Mary took up her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. After shooting her a small smile, Vanya continued as bravely as she could manage. “One person followed me in the room. They were wearing one of those masks I drew a picture of.”

“The green one or the blue one?”

“The blue,” Vanya said.

“Are you sure?”

“ _Yes_.” She was resolute with her answer. It was hard to imagine there would ever be a night her dreams would go unvisited by the memory of those comical expressions leering down at her through the darkness of the closet, forcing her to relive the ordeal over and over again for the rest of her life.

“Do you remember anything else about their appearance? Their height, weight, maybe how they smelt?”

“I remember the smell,” Vanya said, happy she could provide them with that one detail – even if it was sure to be useless to their investigation. “It was of cigarettes. It was a strong smell, like he’d been smoking a lot of them. I can’t remember the other stuff though, just the mask.”

“That’s fine.” Shawn encouraged, setting her mind at ease. “You’re doing _really_ well.”

“Yes. Just let us know if you need to take a break at all.” Mary added.

Vanya assured them she was fine to continue.

“He put a cloth over my mouth and then things went black. I came around briefly when they were dragging me towards their car and I tried to get free, but they noticed and did it again.”

“Do you have any idea how long you were unconscious?”

“No. There were no windows. I don’t own a watch either, so I couldn’t check the time.” She excused. “I woke up alone. I think it was _maybe_ an hour or two before they came back.”

“And then what?” Shawn asked gently.

“The same thing they did the whole time I was there. They brought me food and water. Twice a day they’d let me go to the toilet, but I had to wear a mask over my eyes whenever they took me to the next room and the toilet didn’t have a window either.”

“What did they say to you?”

“Only a couple of words, never more than that. Things like _here you go_. _Toilet time_. _You finished your dinner_? Stuff like that.”

“They cared if you finished your food?”

“Yeah.” Vanya frowned. They always did now she thought about it. “They wouldn’t take it away if I hadn’t eaten it all.”

Shawn wrote that down.

“Do you think that’s important?”

“At this stage, everything is important.” He sighed.

“You still don’t know who killed those men?”

“No. But we _will_ figure it out, I promise you. The case doesn’t end just because we found you. We won’t stop investigating until we’ve found _everyone_ involved.”

“Do you think _I’m_ in danger?” Vanya asked hesitantly.

Cautiously, Shawn told her they could never rule that out until they figured out who the murderer was. “But, so far, nothing has suggested you’re an intended victim.”

That wasn’t the comforting statement she was looking for.

If Five were there, he’d tell her nothing would get near her again. That the Academy would protect her and there was nothing to fear. But he _wasn’t_ there. Even if he was, after the week she’d had, how could his promises reassure her now? How could she believe anything her family said anymore? How could she trust them to keep her safe when, so far, they had failed her miserably?

“Shall I still write it down?” She offered, not liking the silence that had settled over the room.

“Yes, if you would. I’ll just go check on some things while you write everything up. Ms Thorogood, would you be all right to stay in here with Vanya?”

After Mary agreed, Agent Holdsworth excused himself. Writing everything she could remember, Vanya had to pause several times to repress a shudder as the reawakened memories frayed at her senses. She was sure it had something to do with shock or trauma, but it almost seemed that she was feeling everything more keenly than when it had actually happened. When she was in the closet everything had been kept locked within, all her fear, but talking about it now she could barely keep her teeth from chattering. It was silly and Vanya berated herself for it. The men who took her were dead and they weren’t coming back. As everyone kept promising her, she was _safe_. There was no reason for fear now.

Once everything was committed to paper, Vanya was taken for processing.

“We just need your fingerprints so we can exclude them from those taken at the crime scenes,” Shawn explained while the lab technician applied the ink to her hands.

“Crime _scenes_?” Vanya asked, emphasising the plurality of Shawn’s statement, while she carefully watched the technician work.

“Yeah, the apartment and the car. We found that through an anonymous tip from someone who recognised it from the news.”

“Do you need anything else after this?” Mary inquired as Vanya’s fingers were rolled over the paper.

“We wouldn’t mind showing you some pictures, but I know this interview has lasted longer than planned. You can both take a break and go get some lunch from the canteen if you like?” Shawn offered.

“Thank you,” Mary said with a sigh of relief.

They all went downstairs and gathered some food. After being assured that she needn’t worry about the cost, Vanya piled her plate high with everything on offer and was so busy eating she didn’t recognise the incredulous expressions from Mary and Shawn when she managed to consume her way through it all.

“Hungry?”

She nodded enthusiastically at Shawn before turning to Mary to thank her for the meal.

“No need. Agent Holdsworth took care of it.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

He shrugged. “You’re welcome. Now, how about we go look at those photos?”

After looking through several portfolios of criminal mug shots, Vanya apologising every time she failed to recognise any of them – either from her abduction or in the weeks preceding it – Shawn finally admitted they were unlikely to progress any further and told them they were free to go.

“We’ll tell you if anything new arises in our investigation. Where will we be able to reach her?” He asked Mary.

“The police were looking into some leads on Vanya’s family this morning. I’ll just call and check on their progress, but if nothing is turned up by now, we’ll have to go with foster care in the meantime. I can give you the address of the house Vanya ends up in.”

Vanya scuffed the toes of her shoe against the ground while Mary said this, still unwilling to think about her family or the potential of foster care. Without her pills to balance her emotions, it seemed like a dangerous path to let her mind wander down.

“That would be...” Shawn started, but a bellow from along the corridor interrupted him.

Vanya turned her head swiftly at the recognisable sound and instantly tried to make herself shrink back into the room behind her. All of a sudden Grace was hurrying down the corridor towards her – drawing attention from everyone she passed because of her outdated style of dress.

“Vanya.” She beamed, coming to a stop before her. “We were told we could find you here.”

“Madam. Do you know this girl?” Mary inquired warily.

“Grace Hargreeves. Vanya’s mother.” Grace greeted, holding up her hand for shaking. Mary accepted it quietly, her eyes locked on Vanya, watching her reaction carefully.

“We haven’t been able to find _any_ records of Vanya. Have you got identification with you to verify your relationship to her?”

“Her Father has.”

Vanya flinched but was quick to school her expression after that when she heard the click of Father’s cane on the linoleum floor.

“Vanya.” He greeted when he reached her, his voice slightly less strict than usual. The only time in living memory he’d ever called her by her name rather than her number and it was nothing but another show for the public, she lamented as she watched him warily. “Are you ready to return home?”

Nodding despite the chill of dread that ran down her spine, recognising the fire of fury smouldering in his eyes, she prepared herself to follow him when Mary interrupted.

“Excuse me, you can’t just remove her from the building. We have _procedures_ in place. For a start, proof of identity.”

“I am Reginald Hargreeves.” He said, looking down his nose at the woman.

“I am perfectly aware of who you are,” Mary said coldly. “However I have no _proof_ that this child is of any relation to you.”

Reginald held out a hand and Grace obliged, placing the attaché in his grasp.

“I have everything we need in here.”

“Excellent,” Mary said, her smile too tight. “We shall review the documents in another room. Agent Holdsworth, would you be able to make arrangements for one?”

“Yes.” He agreed. “Why don’t we go back into the interview room? I’ll call for additional chairs.”

As they moved towards the offered room, Grace reached out with both arms to draw Vanya into a hug but, without thinking, she sidestepped her. Immediately she cringed, a few seconds before Reginald raised his eyebrow at her in disapproval, instantly knowing she had made the wrong move. Luckily as they were still in public, he didn’t reproach her, but she knew she would receive a lecture later on for failing to act in part of the grateful child. In fairness to her, unlike her siblings, she had never received lessons in crafting the perfect public persona. He wouldn’t see it that way, however. She should act in her own self-preservation and do something, like take Grace’s hand or gush in relief at their arrival, but bile rose in the back of her throat just considering it. Perhaps if they had saved her first, or even if they had collected her from the station a few hours later, but – despite praying for their appearance for the three days she was held captive – the sight of them now made her burn with fury. What the hell had taken them _so_ long?

“Mr Hargreeves,” Mary started, while Grace took the documents out the attaché and spread them over the desk, “can you explain your absence during this incident?”

“Certainly. I was supervising the Umbrella Academy’s latest mission in Paris. I am certain it has made the news here.”

“ _Yes_. But did you not think to cut your trip short when you learned of Vanya’s abduction?”

“I was uninformed of the fact.”

“Mr Hargreeves,” Shawn said, “we know that Mrs Hargreeves was in the house during the kidnapping.”

“Grace was injured in the proceedings.”

Mom nodded in agreement.

“Was she in a coma? Or did she suffer from some form of memory loss?” Mary prodded. “Because that still leaves four days in which your child was not reported missing by your family.”

“Grace was severely injured in the proceedings.”

“How so?”

“Grace is an android, built by myself,” Reginald answered smoothly, ignoring how everyone’s gazes shot towards Grace. “As I said, she was _severely_ injured. It was only once I returned and could repair her that Vanya’s abduction became apparent to us. Now, I believe these papers will adequately prove my relation to Vanya.”

Mary pulled them forward but Shawn kept his attention on Reginald.

“You left your child in the care of an android while you were out of the country? What if she malfunctioned?”

“My inventions do not malfunction,” Reginald said coldly.

After a disbelieving pause, stunned silent by the depth of Reginald’s arrogance, Shawn continued. “Vanya also mentioned a friend of yours was present. Mr...” he checked his notes, “Pogo?”

His face as composed as ever, Reginald replied that “Pogo left a short while before these events occurred.”

“Did you not call the house during your trip to check on Vanya?”

Vanya wondered if anyone else could see the malevolence flicker in Reginald’s eyes before he answered: “I attempted to on one or two occasions, however, I presumed when I did not receive an answer they were out of the house. Grace enjoys taking Vanya to the park sometimes.” He said, adding to the lie.

“These appear to be in order, but I would like to get copies made.” Mary finally declared.

Vanya’s heart fell, but she knew it was inevitable that she would eventually have to return home.

“Of course.”

Handing them to another agent to take to the copy room, Shawn said it would only take a minute.

“Excellent. Perhaps in the meantime, we could discuss Vanya’s medication.”

“Yes. Here you go, my dear.” Grace said, producing the familiar orange bottle from her purse. “It must have been a struggle to go so many days without them, so I brought them with me.”

Mary raised a hand when Grace tried to pass a pill over, stopping the exchange.

“No, what I meant was a discussion on the nature of her medication. When Vanya was first examined by the first aiders some concerns were raised by the paramedic.”

“What concerns?” Reginald asked, his tone a little too sharp. His facade was slipping. Vanya leant back in her chair in response, wishing she could retreat even further than that before the inevitable eruption could occur.

“Blood tests were run to identify the drug administered to Vanya by her kidnappers.”

“Chloroform.” Shawn supplied.

“Yes, and when assessing Vanya’s current physical state, she reported feeling well off the medication she usually takes. A medication she could not name and for which she has apparently never seen a doctor for, only yourself and your... _Miss_ Hargreeves.” Mary said, gesturing towards Grace. “When the blood tests were run, an unusual compound was identified alongside the chloroform. Given the levels of the drug in her blood it was evident it had been in her system for a long time – long _before_ the kidnapping – which led the physician we showed it to to conclude it was the medication Vanya had mentioned during her first assessment. Another blood sample was taken to verify the results were correct.”

Shawn took over. “We’ve had chemists working to identifying it ever since. So far they’ve found it contains traces of sedative drugs. Including a compound which remarkable resembles ketamine, at a dose strong enough to incapacitate a horse.”

Vanya finally took her eyes off the table and looked at Agent Holdsworth in disbelief.

He continued. “There were also traces of a psychoactive element to the drug which the lab thinks would have a mood-altering effect on the subject. Reports are still being compiled, which will be made available to your legal team.”

“My legal team?” Reginald said brusquely. “If you are bringing legal charges against me, this interview is over.”

“Vanya is free to go home with you,” Mary said. “However, given this evidence of drugging, supervised visits have to be arranged. A social worker will visit the property every day, alongside a medical health worker who will ensure no more drugging continues.”

Turning to Vanya, Mary explained, “We always try to keep family units together, however, your safety is still our _top_ priority. An assessment will also need to be made of the house to ensure your needs are met there. If any further risks are identified our decision to place her back in your care will be reviewed and we will also need to consider removing the other children from your property.”

“Grace, contact my attorney,” Reginald said, leaning back in his chair.

When his legal team arrived, Vanya was shepherded out of the interview room by Grace and the pair sat in the waiting room until the meeting was over. She should have spent that time contemplating what she had just learned and what it meant, but she felt deaden to it all. It was too confusing to think about and Vanya let the numbness take over. The only feeling that crossed her consciousness was when Grace tried to take her hand; a stab of fury made her pull away – followed by relief that Reginald wasn’t around to witness her small mutiny.

“We will be home soon,” Grace assured, confused by Vanya’s behaviour. Usually her seventh child was always accepting of physical affection.

“Fine.”

“The other children will be relieved to see you.”

“Sure.”

“We were all incredibly worried about you.”

Vanya turned her head away and Grace allowed them to lapse into silence until Agent Holdsworth and Reginald reappeared.

“We will need to collect your statement of what happened during the attack, _Miss_ ,” Shawn said doubtfully to Grace, not sure how to address her.

Looking to Reginald for a nod of approval, once she received it Grace beamed in response, saying she would be delighted to.

“The attorney will sit with you,” Reginald said. “In the meantime, Agent Holdsworth, my other children are waiting outside.”

“Of course. I’m sure they will be relieved to see their sister.” Shawn said.

Mary joined them in leaving the building, speaking on the phone all the while to her superiors to arrange the first visit to the Umbrella Academy manor.

Reginald settled a hand on Vanya’s shoulder as they approached the main doors and, despite the wild desire to break free, she maintained enough sense to tolerate it.

In contrast to their simple entry into the building, two officers were waiting to open the doors for them as they left, and a massive crowd had assembled outside.

“Mr Hargreeves...” Mary protested when she saw them, “we’ve been trying to keep Vanya away from this kind of spectacle.”

“Nonsense. The world is apparently concerned about her welfare. They will see that she is unharmed and that the Umbrella Academy are here for her.” Reginald said, digging his fingers into Vanya’s skin to direct her.

When she was suddenly thrust out into the mania, it was clear where he was trying to steer her. On the front steps her siblings were lined up, microphones crowding them as they delivered their approved statements. They stopped speaking when she appeared, their true feelings impossible to make out behind their masks, as they turned to look at her and their Father. Vanya’s eyes quickly locked on Five but his face remained necessarily impassive. They couldn’t chance anything else; even if Reginald was trying to stage this as a happy reunion they wouldn’t be forgiven for appearing too eager to see each other. It would be used against them later. 

The press started getting more excited as the reunion started to play out as planned, more flashing bulbs, more yells, the waves getting stronger as they tried to get closer to her, resisting against the arms of blue that tried to hold them back.

Vanya followed along, not knowing what to do now this lunacy she had only ever witnessed from behind the glass was directed at her. Reginald’s guiding hand hurt, but she obeyed it until she noticed the people stood on the other side of the steps – far from her siblings with only looks of concerns decorating their faces. Concern directed at her and not for themselves.

She yelled, no particular words, just a sound of relief, as she somehow yanked herself free of Reginald to run in their direction.

Jaime ducked down and pulled her into a hug which she gratefully accepted, Eddie’s hand coming to rest on her back protectively as around them everything became wilder. With her back turned she couldn’t see the contempt on her Father’s face, the shock on her siblings’, the rejection burning from Five or the unbridled joy of the world’s media as they captured every second of the drama on their cameras for history’s witness. She just buried herself deeper in the safety of their embrace and shut it all out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay in posting this, I had the most horrible case of the flu last week. Well over a week actually. I'm relieved to finally be well enough to write again! Luckily I'd written most of this before I got sick, it just needed some editing. I hope you all liked the latest chapter! Have a great weekend <3


	4. Landing

Once they had made it through the quiet drive home, with Vanya pressed as far away from the others as the small back seat would allow and ignoring all their questioning looks, she was shepherded back to her bedroom by Grace where she was told to change into her uniform. So, without a backward glance, she marched upstairs while everyone else gathered for one of their debriefings. 

They had restored everything in her room to its proper order, no knocked over furniture, no crushed remnants of her beloved violin. She would have to inquire about its remains later. Perhaps there was some way she could repair it. If not, it seemed unlikely Reginald would buy her another. Her days would be relegated to silence once more. 

She neatly packed away her borrowed clothes, though she knew it was unlikely she’d be able to keep them. Still, she folded them with care and placed them carefully in the dresser. She took her little stuffed rabbit, given to her by Jaime, from the folds of her coat and put him beneath her pillow, hoping to hide him for a little longer. Grace would find him eventually when her room was next cleaned, but she might be able to keep him for another day or two. There was no point in naming him though, he’d be gone before she knew it. 

With a sigh, Vanya crossed over to the mirror and surveyed herself critically once she was dressed. Her face looked a little fuller than the last time she had stood in front of it. Likely a result of all the food she had been eating, both in and out of captivity. She couldn’t say it looked bad on her, though Allison would likely tease her for putting on weight later. Allison always noticed things like that, likely a result of being so concerned about her own figure. It was silly, they were too young to worry about that.

Plucking a brush up from her dresser, Vanya pulled the hair from the elastic Eddie had given her and brushed it into its usual immaculate form. Once it had settled around her shoulders, her bangs a little long, she grimaced. She always looked like that, hiding behind those bangs for as long as she could remember, and in that moment she didn’t want to return to her normal routine. On a whim, she brushed her bangs to the side, so they parted slightly, and pulled her hair back into its high ponytail. She didn’t want to risk losing the band from Eddie, anyway. Allison was always taking things like that from her room. Insignificant though it was, Vanya didn’t want to lose anything the officers had given her. They felt too precious.

Smoothing a hand over her uniform skirt, she itched to put her jeans back on but resisted; it wasn’t worth the effort of an unwinnable argument with Reginald. Vanya was certain she would already walk into one anyway when she went downstairs. As expected, it was clear he was furious with her. But what else could she have done? Someone had to find out the truth, eventually. If he didn’t want her exposed, more should have been done to keep her safe. Like everyone had told her at the station, it wasn’t her fault she was kidnapped.

A sharp exhale messed up her bangs, giving her an excuse to dawdle in front of the mirror a little longer to fix her hair instead of going downstairs. Her _family_ were inescapable however, a fact proven by the tap at her door. As the noise was always the same, she knew it was Grace. Her Mom knocked on the same place on the door, the number of taps and the strength behind them always identical. No playful patterns in the taps like Klaus did or the thumping weight of Luther’s fist. Not that they ever knocked at her door, she only knew that from sharing a corridor with them.

“Come in.” Vanya called out.

“Vanya, dear,” Grace said, entering the small bedroom. “Are you ready to come back downstairs?”

“Yes.” She replied but stayed next to the mirror, fidgeting with her appearance.

“Would you like some assistance?”

“No, thank you. But...what happened to my violin?”

Grace came in and took a seat on the edge of the bed. “I saw it when I cleaned your room. I believe your Father has the pieces in his office, however, given recent events, there has been no time to evaluate its condition and decide whether it is worth salvaging.”

“Oh. Well, could Pogo look at it for me? He’s helped me with replacing the strings before, so maybe he could repair it?” Vanya proposed, trying to be optimistic. After so many years trying to make something of herself by playing that violin, it was hard to consider the possibility that it was gone forever. There had to be _something_ they could do.

“About that, dear. I think it best I tell you now, as it is likely one of the other children may mention it first.” Grace started. Patting the spot on the bed beside her, she waited for Vanya to sit.

She remained standing.

With a gentle sigh, Grace continued. “During the attack, I was incapacitated. The attackers were highly skilled, and my programming was not enough to repel them. While I attempted to hold them back, Pogo tried to run upstairs so he could get you to one of the several safe rooms located in the house...”

“We have safe rooms in the house?” Vanya asked dumbly, trying to disrupt Grace’s story as she had an uncomfortable sense she wouldn’t like where it was going.

“Yes, dear. As Pogo entered the hallway, one assailant broke away from his fight with me to intercept him. Pogo could not defend himself from such an opponent and was killed in the struggle.”

Vanya blinked at Grace, whose face morphed into one of programmed compassion.

“Pogo’s _dead_?”

“Yes, Vanya. Pogo is dead.” Her voice was as gentle as always. No hint of loss, or anger, or sadness, or regret. Vanya supposed her Mom wasn’t capable of such things. She wouldn’t even have been capable of fearing for _her_ safety while she was missing. If she had been conscious during the time.

“I – I _don’t_ understand.”

“It is understandable to struggle with the loss of a loved one...”

“ _No_. I mean.” Vanya exhaled shakily. “At the police station, Father said Pogo wasn’t there. That he was out of the house.”

“Pogo’s existence would raise too many questions, Vanya. Your Father already took a calculated risk in revealing that I am an android. His notoriety as an inventor, however, convinced him to do so, as he doubted the authorities would question his work. Pogo would be a different matter. It was _wise_ to leave him out of it.”

“So no one knows that he’s dead?” She pressed, horrified.

“Everyone who needs to know does. Everyone who _cared_ about him.”

Gritting her teeth, Vanya turned her back on Grace.

“Vanya, dear. I know how you must be feeling. Deaths are difficult to process. It is important however that you do not allow these feelings to consume you.”

“You don’t want me to _grieve_?” She shrieked, failing to moderate her volume. The last time she had shouted that loud, it had roused Pogo, who came running to her. He dropped on his knees and hugged her close. She hadn’t even had a chance to squeak in alarm when her kidnappers arrived, but even then he was apparently coming for her. The only one in the house to even try to. And he had died for his troubles.

“That is _not_ what I said. Vanya, you must contain yourself. Members from social services will be here soon and it is vital we show a united front.”

“We can’t be a united front if we’re not all here, _can we_ Mother?” Vanya growled, too far gone to be surprised at herself for speaking to Grace in such a manner.

“We are all here. All of us who _can_ be. We have to be enough. Pogo would not want us to fall apart. He would want us to be a family.”

“Pogo _was_ my family.” She cried. “He was the only one who _ever_ acted like it. He was the only one in this house who loved me.”

“Vanya, that is not true,” Grace said. A real mother would shout in protestation. Her Mother sounded as she always did. Perfectly plastic. “I love you.”

“You are incapable of love. You’re _nothing_ but a machine.” Vanya bit back. “I don’t want you in here, _get out_!”

If anyone else were there, they would have rebuked her for saying such a thing to the android they were told to treat as a caregiver. They were alone at that moment, however, and Grace only inclined her head – incapable of feeling hurt by Vanya’s barb. That fact alone increased her ire tenfold. She wanted to hurt someone, it only seemed fair someone else felt the pain she did. Having sat next to her perfectly composed siblings in the car, it was clear none of them were as heartbroken by Pogo’s death as her. Vanya was the only one mourning him and, apparently, even her grief was an inconvenience; one to be buried behind the perfect Hargreeves mask.

“You will need to come downstairs, Vanya. Everyone is waiting.” Grace informed, elegantly rising from the bed. “I will give you five minutes to collect yourself then I will escort you down. I will be outside in the hall waiting.”

Swiftly shutting the door behind her, Vanya knew Grace would still be within earshot.

Sitting on the bed, away from the spot Grace had just occupied, she reached for her bedside drawer and pulled out a book Pogo had leant her the other week. The pages were still dog-eared as Pogo had read the text several times, its pages slightly yellowed. Vanya trailed her fingertips over it before lifting it to her face and taking a deep breath. It smelled of worn paper, but she liked to think there was a trace of Pogo there. If she concentrated, she could remember the scent. How much longer would she be able to?

Closing her eyes, she sighed and tried to think of the last time he had hugged her. Reginald had yelled at her about something, or maybe it was one of the children – annoyed that she had gotten in their way. She couldn’t really remember (she really didn’t want to) but she remembered his warm fur, the sharply ironed lines in his suit jacket that she worried about erasing with her tears, and the firmness of his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. He always knelt when he hugged her, getting down to her level so she could embrace him fully. They were always behind a closed door, personal affection not permitted, especially for Number Seven. Pogo would never disregard that rule publically, but when the day was particularly hard, he would bend for her. Probably for the others too, although it was nice to think she was exceptional to something in that house. That there was one thing she got the others didn’t.

That polite knock came again and Vanya reluctantly opened her eyes back to the house Pogo no longer belonged to. Her chest ached, but if she didn’t go downstairs willingly they would drag her down there and she had already yelled unforgivable things to Mom in her fit of anger. There was no sense in risking a repeat performance, this time directed at someone far less forgiving.

Replacing Pogo’s book carefully, hoping she wouldn’t have to give it back to Reginald, Vanya stood, smoothed down her skirt, tightened her ponytail and crossed to open the door.

“Sorry, Mom.”

“It is nothing to worry about, Vanya,” Grace said, offering her one of her perfect smiles.

Vanya wanted to flinch looking at it but she forced one in return, her teeth barely showing as her face protested stretching into such a cheerful expression at such a miserable time.

“Shall we?”

Nodding, she continued to forcefully direct her body; willing it in one direction when it longed to flee in another.

Walking down the stairs caused her more feelings than going up them had, her eyes roving for any sign of where _it_ might have happened.

Everything looked immaculate. The scene must have been set before they collected her from the FBI headquarters. Already, Pogo’s presence in the manor was ebbing away and Vanya would be powerless to stop it. She wondered if his room had already been dismantled for the visit to avoid any of those pesky questions they were so eager to evade. Maybe she could salvage some of his belongings to treasure as her own.

The children were in a drawing room. Their eyes trained on her as she passed with Grace, but they didn’t stop on their way to Reginald’s study. Automatically her eyes slid towards the floor, used to avoiding the weight of their glares, but she caught herself and lifted her head straight. Turning, she looked right back and was pleased to see surprise cross several of their features. Ben and Five were concerned, that was obvious now their masks were gone, and the public wasn’t pressing at them from every side. Some of them, particularly Allison, looked angry. She was sure she’d find out why later; every emotion Allison experienced was one that had to be shared with the group. Vanya wondered if there was anything Allison wouldn’t shout from the rooftops if it would buy her attention.

Wordlessly, she followed Grace and paused while her Mom knocked on the door to announce their arrival. When they were told to enter they did, Grace ushering her inside and towards a wooden backed chair facing Reginald’s desk. Once she was sat, Mom took her leave.

“Number Seven.” Reginald eventually acknowledged as the study door was closed. “Thank you for _finally_ joining me.”

She bit back a retort, tempted to ask if he wouldn’t be calling her Vanya from now on. It was a sensible move. The fury was deeply etched on his face. Purposefully adding to it would have been lunacy.

“You will join the other children shortly, however, there are some things we need to discuss beforehand. First, Pogo...”

“Mom already told me about Pogo,” Vanya mumbled, not liking to hear Pogo’s name come out of her Father’s mouth at that moment in time.

“I see,” Reginald said, unfazed. “In that case, we will progress to...”

“She didn’t tell me how he died though. Just that he was attacked.” Vanya interrupted again. Reginald’s nose flared as she did so, but he wasn’t one to spare a person’s feelings so she knew he was her best chance at finding out the truth. “How did he die?”

“He was impaled. His attacker, who we presume was of considerable strength, threw him against one of the mounted heads. An antler tore through his heart and part of his left lung. He died relatively instantaneously.”

Vanya sighed in relief – it was fast. Reginald wouldn’t lie about such a thing for her benefit.

“Now that has been covered, I want a full written account about your kidnapping. You will do so after the social workers have visited the Academy, is that understood?”

“Yes.” She agreed. Everything had already been covered in her FBI interview, so that shouldn’t be too difficult. “Don’t you have it on tape though?”

“The security feeds were tampered with prior to the attack,” Reginald admitted, grimacing before schooling his expression.

She wanted to ask how that was possible, but knew that had to be a sore point for him. Instead, she asked: “I gave the police sketches of their masks. Do you want those too?”

“Yes. _Everything_ you provided to the police you will provide to me as well.”

“Can I have access to the classroom? All the art supplies are in there and the masks were different colours.”

“Grace will ensure you have access to all the provisions you might need. Once you have completed your report, I will also require an oral account of what happened to check for any inconsistencies. You will visit my office after breakfast tomorrow morning to do so.”

“Yes, Father.”

“In your account, I also want you to include everything that happened during and following your rescue. I want _specific_ details, such as names, organisation affiliation and what they said. I take it you can manage that.” The underlying accusation of her incompetence resulted in her biting her tongue, so she replied with a nod.

“Very well. Finally, we must discuss the visit from _your_ social workers. Obviously, you understand how unfortunate it is that such an arrangement has been imposed on the Academy. This might undermine the important work that the Umbrella Academy undertakes and jeopardise the lives that depend on the Academy being able to carry out missions, _unimpeded_.”

Jaime would say unauthorised.

“It is _vital_ this visit goes well. I have already debriefed the other children and modifications have been made to the Academy at expense to _our_ time and resources.” He added. “I expect you to be on your best behaviour. There is no time to discuss the details of how you should behave given your tardiness in getting downstairs, however, after seeing the consequences of your recent behaviour I feel it is imperative to cover some basic etiquette which you should maintain before our guests. Primarily, do _not_ provide information unless you are directly asked for it. While I have trained your siblings in answering public questions, you have _not_ _been_.” Reginald said accusingly, as though that were her fault. “If the information you are asked for risks revealing too much about the Umbrella Academy’s practices, divert the interviewer. Provide a generic answer or redirect them to another topic. That includes specific information about your medication. In those cases, I would suggest you refer them to either myself or Grace. In that case, ignorance is your safest play. Something _you_ can manage. Next,” he continued.

Throughout the blessedly short lecture, Vanya had to keep her hands clenched in fists behind her back at all times.

It was _their_ absence which had led to everything terrible that had befallen them within the past week, and yet Father spoke like this was _her_ fault. If the Academy had been at home instead of touring Europe, Pogo would still be alive. Grace would have been undamaged. Vanya would never have been kidnapped by those men. She wouldn’t be caught up in a murder inquiry, and have said murderers potentially after her as well. Her entire world wouldn’t have been torn apart.

Conversely, she never would have met Jaime or Eddie or Mary. Terry or Shawn. All the nice people at the police station who had called her brave, asked if she was okay, had seemed so caring. More caring than the man before her, her father, who only cared about the image the children projected to the world and not the humans beneath it.

“Will the social workers know anything about the murder case?” Vanya asked once Reginald’s lecture was over and he looked prepared to dismiss her.

“Murder case?”

“Yes. The two men who kidnapped me were murdered.”

“I am aware of that Number Seven.”

“The FBI is investigating their murder. They briefly guarded me as they thought I might be attacked too. Now they’re not sure, but it sounds like they’re still worried about it. So, will the social workers visiting today know if anything new has been found?”

“I will be informed if there are any new developments in the case.”

“And will you tell me?” Vanya pressed. She needed to know. Last night she had only slept because Eddie and Jaime were close by, reassuring presences which had made her feel safe. She was surrounded by the Umbrella Academy now, her bedroom encased by its members. They would hear if something terrible happened, would even likely stop it. Yet that wasn’t enough to make her feel safe anymore. What she feared now was ignorance. She needed to _know_ what was happening. That the murderers had been caught. To know why they had murdered her kidnappers. Why she had been kidnapped at all! Things she would never learn from the Umbrella Academy. The Academy would kill them before she could ever find it out, and then what? Were there more people? Was she still in danger? They would never know. The police, the FBI, they _would_.

“I will inform you if it is pertinent. Now, proceed to the drawing room and wait with the other children.”

Swallowing a curse, Vanya stood swiftly from the purposefully uncomfortable seat and opened the door before Grace could.

“This way,” Grace said, as though Vanya were a stranger in her own home. She led her back to the drawing room where the other children were more sprawled out than when she had last seen them. Obviously, the wait had eroded their caution of Reginald’s imminent return and they had chosen to get comfortable. Diego was sprawled over one of the couches, although he sat upright when Grace walked in. Klaus didn’t bother.

“Children.” She lightly admonished. “No feet on the furniture.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Klaus said, sounding bored. A thud accompanied each shoe as they connected with the floor.

It was amazing how her siblings (the ‘ _other children’_ or‘ _Umbrella Academy’_ as Reginald always referred to them when speaking to her, to discourage familial bonds) could face criminals every day, be so unpleasant to each other and her, and yet bow immediately to a request from Grace for something as arbitrary as feet on the coffee table.

“Thank you, Klaus.” Grace beamed. “Your Father will be along in a minute so we should look presentable.”

Immediately hands began to smooth hair, uniforms were straightened and blazers fully buttoned. Only Five remained unmoving, sitting in the same chair as when she had last passed the room, ramrod straight, hands folded, his eyes fixated on her.

When Vanya noticed this, she looked away and, for some reason, her cheeks felt warm. Likely the stress of the upcoming visit and the pressure of meeting Reginald’s demands.

“Vanya, why don’t you take a seat?” Grace gently encouraged, remaining stood beside the door.

Out of habit, she chose the armchair beside Five. When in a room with the other children, Vanya always gravitated towards Five. They all used to tease her for it, but now it was an accepted fact. She was the closest to Five. Her sitting beside him was as predictable as Luther sitting near Allison or Klaus putting his feet on the nearest elevated surface. They were victims of routine.

No one tried to question her with Grace still present and Reginald on his way, but Vanya could feel the weight of the room on her. Five’s gaze was particularly piercing – she could feel the burn as he continued to stare, almost hearing the yell of his thoughts telling her to look up and try to communicate with him somehow – but Vanya kept her focus on her knees and wondered who would be visiting them that day. She hoped it would be Mary. It would be nice to see a familiar face.

Eventually, Reginald came along and everyone somehow sat even straighter in their seats as he joined them.

At the hour, Grace left to answer the door, her heels clicking as she walked away. Vanya held her breath, straining to hear what was going on. She was trying so hard to listen she was almost certain she could hear the front door creak open, but that had to be her imagination.

“The drawing room is just this way, the children are in there waiting for you.” She heard Grace say after she showed the small group of people where they could hang their coats.

“Thank you,” Mary replied, and Vanya breathed a little easier.

Mary was accompanied by Agent Holdsworth and two other social workers, clipboards in hand.

“Hello, Mr Hargreeves. As discussed earlier today, we are here to do an assessment on your property to determine its suitability for minors.” Mary said, professional to the letter until she saw Vanya then her face split into a smile. “Hello, Vanya. How are you?”

“Good, thank you,” Vanya said, her face warming further as her siblings’ stares intensified.

“And these must be your _siblings_.” Mary continued, her assessing eyes turning on the others. “Won’t you introduce me, Vanya?”

“Err, all right.” She agreed, casting a cautious glance at Reginald who subtly nodded back. Slowly standing, she started: “Well, this is Luther.”

It was a habit to go in numerical order.

Number One immediately stood up and offered his hand. “Ma’am.”

“There’s no need for formalities. You can call me Mary.” He was corrected.

Luther looked unhappy, trained to always address his Father’s guests and any outsiders by title and surname, but his earlier instructions to comply with the investigation were strict so he complied with Mary’s request.

“Then Diego.” Vanya continued, gesturing towards Number Two.

Diego didn’t offer his hand, but he stood. “Hello.”

“Hello, Diego.”

Number Three displayed her prettiest smile, all teeth and dimples, determined to be adored. She introduced herself before Vanya could open her mouth. “Hello, I’m Allison. I’m Vanya’s sister.”

Her earlier anger had seemingly disappeared. None of their visitors would guess Allison had been glaring at Vanya with evident disdain only a few moments ago.

“Hello, Allison.” Mary smiled, taking Allison’s extended hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Allison replied, laying it on thick. “I hope you enjoy looking around our home. It’s a beautiful house. I can show you around if you like?”

“That would be lovely, but let’s finish our introductions first shall we?” Mary agreed, prising her hand free of Allison’s who was holding it too tightly. “Vanya?”

“Right. Here’s Klaus.”

“Hi. I’m Klaus.” Number Four said, waving his hand. He had enough sense to stand up like his brother’s and Allison instead of remaining in his seat. Reginald’s eyebrow had already risen over his informal greeting.

“People call me the Séance too, but I prefer Klaus.” He continued.

“Ah, I understand. My Mom called me Marigold, but I prefer Mary.”

“Marigold?” Vanya asked. “That’s pretty.”

“Thank you, Vanya.” Mary smiled. “And who is this?”

She had pointed towards Ben. Like Allison, he introduced himself before Vanya could answer Mary’s question.

“I’m Ben.”

“Short for Benjamin?” Mary asked.

“Yes,” Grace answered in Ben’s place, as Number Six had only frowned in confusion at Mary’s question. “I chose it myself.”

“Oh, did you choose all the children’s names?”

“Yes. I put quite a bit of research into it. I wanted them to be perfect.”

“I see,” Mary said, focusing her attention on Five. “Vanya, I believe you have one more person to introduce?”

She expected Five to jump up and announce his identity, but he sat patiently, wanting to listen to Vanya say his name after a week without hearing it.

With a gulp, Vanya supplied the information they all already knew. “This is Five.”

After curiously glancing at Vanya, Mary shook hands with Five. “Hello, Five. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hello.” Five said, giving his public smile in response. The one that wasn’t too sharp but still lacked genuineness. Vanya never enjoyed seeing that smile.

“Such an unusual name,” Mary said, turning to Grace. “I wonder if you could tell me the story behind it? You said you researched all the children’s names very carefully.”

“Five’s name is the only one I didn’t have to research. His birth mother, _before_ she died, had requested his name be Five. From what I gather, not being there myself, she was Jewish, and the number five plays great significance to their religion. The five books of the Torah, the Pentateuch, and the hamsa hand for instance. She believed the name would protect Five when she could not. Mr Hargreeves knew he had to honour such a request, so, despite its unusualness, the child was adopted under the name Five Hargreeves.”

Vanya could practically hear Five’s eyes roll behind her at the ludicrousness of the tale, but didn’t dare peek to confirm that.

“I see. Well, it’s certainly unique.”

“Isn’t it just?” Five agreed, still smiling.

“Allow me to introduce my colleagues. Vanya, you already know Agent Holdsworth.”

“Shawn, please.” He corrected, before smiling at Vanya. “Hello again.”

“Hello, Shawn.” She replied, echoed by the other children.

“And to my right is Tom Lawrence and Javier Barros. They will both be helping me with the inspection.”

Both men made their hellos.

“After our inspection, it has been arranged that I or my colleagues speak to the rest of you individually. In the meantime, Agent Holdsworth has some additional questions for Vanya.”

“Yes, I prepared the classroom for you both. I hope that will meet your needs,” Grace said.

“All we need is a couple of chairs,” Shawn assured. “I’m sure whatever room you have available is fine.”

“Where do you want to start?” Allison asked, eager now that the introductions were over and she could centre the attention back on her again.

“Perhaps we might see the rest of this floor first?” Mary suggested warily, untrusting of Allison as a guide.

“Is everyone else coming?”

“I will accompany you. Perhaps one of your colleagues would like to start interviewing the children?” Reginald said.

“Excellent. Javier?”

“Sure thing. Ben, how about I talk with you first?” Javier suggested, flipping the pages on his clipboard to find the correct form.

“Okay,” Ben replied, his tone a little dubious.

“You can use my office.” Reginald offered. “Grace will show you the way before we start. The other children will wait here until you and your team are ready for them.”

“Great.” Mary smiled. “Shall we begin?”

“Yes.” Allison beamed, first at Mary before turning it towards Vanya. “You’ll be okay if I go, won’t you?”

Confused, Vanya nodded.

“I’ve been so worried about her,” Allison told Mary and Tom as they came to stand with her. “I can’t even imagine how terrifying it all must have been. I’m sure we’ll have to have a few sleepovers this week. Neither of us will sleep otherwise! Those are always fun though, I love braiding her hair. And Vanya’s the best at painting my nails, much neater than Klaus is.” She joked while Vanya worked to keep her mouth from falling open.

“Hey,” Klaus complained.

“You spilled the bottle last time.” Allison continued to banter. “ _Remember_ , you ruined Vanya’s bedspread?”

“ _Oh yeah_.” He conceded even though he had done no such thing. While those two often did things like that – painting nails, gossiping, playing with their hair, all with Reginald’s deep disapproval (not that he would show that now, likely encouraging this whole charade) – _never_ had Vanya been a part of it. Not that she hadn’t tried, but the door always wound up being slammed in her face. That they would pretend they had always welcomed her into their little gatherings made her eyes prickle with unshed tears.

Their group set off, Allison leading Mary, Tom and Reginald in one direction while Grace, Ben and Javier headed in another.

Once the parental supervision was gone, Five was on his feet and crowded in on her dumbstruck figure. With his back shielding them from the view of the other boys, he tried to squeeze her hand in comfort, but she quickly snatched it away and walked over to Shawn.

Was anything in that house real? Was anything not an act?

“I know the way to the classroom.” Vanya offered, not wanting to wait for Grace to come back.

“Great. Lead on.”

Stalking away from the drawing room, Vanya led them further down the corridor, made a few turns, and opened the door to the children’s classroom.

“Wow, she wasn’t kidding when she called it a classroom,” Shawn said, glancing around. “You’ve got everything in here. I’ve seen real classrooms with less. Cool, you’ve even got a globe.”

He gave it a quick spin, unable to resist, before placing his briefcase on a table. Instead of sitting at the small desk, he picked up two chairs and set them in the middle of the room.

“That’s better. If I sit at one of those desks, I’ll expect Miss Trunchbull to come marching in and make me rewrite the dictionary by hand eliminating all words associated with happiness.” He laughed. Vanya joined him, understanding the reference and already feeling more relaxed now her family weren’t near. Although she was certain the cameras hidden around the room were fully trained on her, and the footage would carefully be reviewed later once the iron curtain had fallen again.

Picking up some papers, Shawn handed them over.

“I just have a few more photographs I wanted you to look at.”

“More mug shots?” Vanya asked apprehensively as she accepted the pages.

“No, no mug shots this time. I’m sure you’ll be glad to hear that. We made you look through quite a lot of them before. These are pieces of evidence we’ve found at the crime scenes. I just wanted to ask if you recognised anything? Perhaps you saw it around the apartment or in your kidnapper’s possession.”

Holding them up to her face, Vanya studied each of them closely, willing to spot something of use that could help the police figure out who had done this. She ended up disappointed in herself, unable to provide anything of use.

“Sorry.” She said dejectedly.

“That’s all right. It was a long shot anyway, we know they blindfolded you while you were moving around the apartment.”

“I know, but still...”

“Vanya,” Shawn laughed, “we don’t expect you to be clairvoyant. You’ve already been a great help by drawing those masks. We’ve been working to find places that sell them.”

“Have you found any?”

“No...”

“Oh.” She sighed.

“ _No_ ,” he continued, “which is _good_ because it suggests they're unique. And unique means it will then be easier to trace the purchase.”

“Oh,” Vanya said, her tone improved.

“Exactly. As I said, your testimony has been a great help.”

“Really?” She asked, still dubious about that.

“Yes. Before we spoke with you, we were unsure as to motive. Given what you said about the kidnapper’s concern about your eating habits, we know it was unlikely they intended you any harm. More likely they were hoping to ransom you once your family returned to the country. Every insight like that is useful to us.”

Everything seemed to tie back to her _family_ , didn’t it?

“Well, I’m glad then. And I’ll tell you if I remember _anything_ else.” She promised.

“I know you will.” Shawn smiled. “Well, shall we get back to the drawing room?”

“Actually, I have a bit of schoolwork to do. I don’t think I’ll be needed for the _tour_. Do you think it would be okay if I stay here?” Vanya asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, I can’t see why not. I’ll let Javier know.”

She started to rise, but he held up a hand. “No, no, don’t get up. You stay here, I can remember my way back. It was two lefts, a right then straight ahead to the drawing room – right?”

“Yes.”

Tapping the side of his head, Shawn told her: “I have a good memory.”

Smiling, Vanya still stood up to go to the art cupboard. The door was unlocked.

“Do you have some fun project to work on or is it a boring essay?” Shawn asked as he collected his photos.

“Just an art project.” She replied, holding up the paper and colouring pencils. Reginald wouldn’t like it if she disclosed that he was planning his own investigation into her kidnapping; which she presumed he was. Why else would he want a recount of her statement to the police and a copy of her drawings?

“Ah, fun then. That’s good. I think you’re deserving of some fun.” Shawn said a little more seriously. “Maybe it will be good for you to spend some time with your sister too, like she suggested? It can be tempting after a traumatic event to withdraw, but it’s important to spend time with the people we care about. It sounds like you two are close?”

Unable to vocalise such a whopping lie, Vanya nodded instead. “Mmm hmm.”

“That’s great. We all need a support system. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll see you again before I leave.” He said, gently shutting the classroom door behind him.

Setting her paper and pencils on her usual desk, Vanya took a second to bury her face in her hands – desperately trying to keep her breathing steady and the tears at bay. Everything was bubbling within, ready to simmer out of control. If she let it out now though, there would be no packing it away again. She had to keep it together until the social worker’s visit was over; her family would never forgive her if she gave everything away again and they couldn’t find out about Pogo or how horrible things really were, that had been made that clear.

Shaking her head to clear it, grief still clinging to her regardless, she sat down and sketched out the masks. The materials she had here were better than those at the police station so she spent more time working on it, trying to get the colours as perfect as she could.

When she could shade no longer, the pictures looking scarily accurate after all the work she put into them, Vanya flipped the paper over so she didn’t have to see those frozen expressions any longer. She pulled the lined paper forward next to copy out her police statement. After talking to Shawn about what happened and then writing it up, it was easier to stay detached now – considering it a recounting of her earlier work rather than something that had really happened to her.

Folding the papers up when she was done, so the contents wouldn’t be visible to anyone who passed her by, Vanya made her way out of the classroom and hesitantly walked towards the drawing room. As she neared, she could hear Javier speaking to Diego asking him to go to Reginald’s office.

Deciding to hide her papers in her bedroom before joining everyone again, not wanting to risk social services seeing them, Vanya made her way to the children’s corridor and squirreled them away between her stacks of sheet music.

“Vanya?”

Squeaking with surprise, she turned around to find Ben hovering in the doorway.

“Shit, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He quickly apologised. “It’s just, Dad asked me to find you. We’re all meeting downstairs again.”

“Oh.” Vanya sighed, pressing a hand to her thumping heart to calm it. “Okay.”

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, you just caught me off guard. I thought I was alone up here.”

“No.” Ben clarified. “Are you _okay_? I haven’t spoken to you since you got home. I mean, I know things weren’t good. You were – but, are you _okay_? Do you need anything?”

“I’m okay.” She said, even though it was a lie. “I don’t need anything.”

“If you say so. Just, talk to me if you’re not. Please?” He pressed.

“Erm, sure.”

Nodding, Ben stared at his feet for a moment before suddenly striding forward and pulling her into a hug. “I was really worried about you. We came home and everything was...we didn’t know where you were. It wasn’t until Five saw you on the news that we knew you were even alive.”

Tensing as he squeezed her tight, Vanya pushed him away after a moment, unable to handle that kind of proximity to one of her siblings at that moment in time. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

“It’s not your fault.” Ben insisted. “We’ll find out whose it is and stop them. I _promise_.”

Vanya rooted against him. “The police are already looking. I’m sure they’ll figure it.”

“ _Right_.” He said, his tone slightly disparaging. “Come on, let’s go get this over with then things can back to normal.”

“Right.” She echoed, reluctantly following him back to the drawing room.

Javier had finished up his interviews with her brothers and was now speaking with Allison, who had finished giving her tour. Mary and Tom were now roaming around making their own inspections, while the Hargreeves gathered in the drawing room.

“Did you complete your assignment, Number Seven,” Reginald asked from his chair, barely looking her way.

“Yes, I left it in my bedroom for now.”

“Very well. Deliver it to my study after our guests are gone.”

Ben urged her to take a seat, and she sat next to him on the couch instead of beside Five again. When Allison returned, Javier in tow, she came to sit beside her. A first.

“Hey, Vanya. How did your interview go with Shawn?” Allison asked brightly.

“Fine,” Vanya said uncertainly, not sure how to interact with her sister.

“Good. I’m sure this will all be over soon and everything can get back to normal.” She assured, throwing an arm around Vanya’s shoulder and pulling her close for good measure. Vanya felt like elbowing her in the stomach for release yet she had no choice but to go willingly. Allison’s hair was shoved in her face, masking her sour expression.

In time, Mary, Tom and Shawn returned, giving Vanya an excuse to extricate herself.

“We’ll head back to our offices now. The results of our tour will be made available to you in a few days. In the meantime, Tom will return once a day to test Vanya’s blood – as previously agreed.”

“Shall we do that now?” Tom asked Mary, who was evidentially the one in charge.

“Yes. Grace said you could use the infirmary.”

Vanya followed Tom from the room, straining all the while to hear what was happening without her. Listening closely, she could hear that a copy of the investigation’s results would be given directly to both Reginald and his legal team. The infirmary’s door was closed then, and she could hear nothing else.

After drawing a vial of her blood, Tom produced another form and asked her some standard questions about her mood, if she was experiencing any physical symptoms and if she had ingested or been administered any medication in the last twenty-four hours. He then asked her to stand so he could measure her weight and height, which he added to his chart.

“Thank you. I know having blood drawn isn’t a very pleasant process, but it’s important to ensure no more drugs are being added to your system. The FBI’s scientists have found out that, given the rate of decay between your two previous blood samples, the drug administered to you before your kidnapping will have nearly cleared your bloodstream now. You may start to experience some side-effects. We don’t know how long you’ve been on this medication exactly...”

“For as long as I can remember.” Vanya said, disregarding Reginald’s instructions about voluntarily offering up information.

Tom scribbled that down. “So it’s possible being off it may cause some side-effects. The changes in your appetite, for instance, we believe is a withdrawal symptom. Either that or the drug suppressed your natural appetite. Has there been anything else you’ve noticed?”

Vanya shook her head.

“Okay. Well just remember that. If you feel dizzy or have any fluctuations in temperature, tell me tomorrow and I’ll see if there’s anything we can do to help. Does that sound good to you?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Let’s head back upstairs. It’s getting late and you kids will be having your dinner soon.”

Following him back to the drawing room, the team made their goodbyes. They were professional until it was Vanya’s turn, and she was drawn aside slightly so they could be more informal.

“Take care, kid,” Shawn said, clapping a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll let you know if we find anything else out.”

“See you tomorrow.” Tom reminded.

“Yes, I’ll be visiting with him. So I’ll see you then,” Mary added.

“Until next time.” Javier waved, and they all made their way outside; the front door shutting heavily behind them.

In the room everyone sighed with relief that the outsiders were gone, Reginald heading for his study and the children dispersing. Vanya didn’t linger, she had to go get her notes to take to the study. When she presented them, Reginald barely acknowledged her – their discussion on her statement was scheduled for tomorrow, and he had no interest in starting early.

Grace ushered her to the dining room after that and they all quietly ate to the sounds of another record. The Academy members had been scheduled extra training after that so Vanya wandered back to her room. Despite the early hour she prepared for bed; going to the bathroom to shower and brush her teeth, before changing into her pyjamas and picking up Pogo’s book to read in bed.

It felt odd being back in her own bedroom, tucked up in her plain sheets, the white walls bearing in on her. While she knew it had only been a few days, it felt like an eternity since she was last there. Her siblings’ had just gone to Paris, the house was unnaturally still and her Mom had given her an extra pill to soothe her to sleep. Pogo let her have a smaller portion of dinner so she could have more dessert. It had been a sad night, but it she had quickly fallen asleep. She’d had no idea how much her life would be turned on its head the following day.

Her chest seemed to permanently ache now.

Vanya was re-reading the same line over and over again, the text failing to absorb as her mind raced. She endeavoured with it though, not wanting to sleep yet. She was sure that once she did there would be a lot of nightmares queuing to plague her. When his blue light filled her room, she wished she’d shut off the light and surrendered to the terrors.

“Vanya.” Five sighed in relief.

She glanced over the pages of her book and saw he was still in his uniform.

“I’ll go get ready for bed and come back after lights out, okay?” He said breathlessly, beads of sweat gathering at his temples. Training had only just finished. Reginald had given them extra sessions to compensate for the apparently penetrable Academy defences. He told them they needed to be alert, which had done nothing to calm Five’s fears for Vanya’s safety.

“Stay up for me.” He demanded when she didn’t answer him. “I’ll come back.”

He flashed away again and Vanya shut her eyes to the light.

Shutting the book, she gently replaced it in her drawer then switched off her lamp and settled onto the bed. Clamping her eyes shut, she willed sleep to come to her but those blue and green masks seemed to be etched on the backs of her eyelids waiting to haunt her.

With a sigh, she resigned herself to looking up at the ceiling until Five returned. It felt like an eternity until he did, but eventually, Mom finished making the rounds and the floor was quiet.

Turning her head away from the sight of his return, the shock of blue seeming even brighter after she had been sat in the dark for so long. Five swiftly crossed the room to her side.

Pushing herself up to lean against her headboard, she watched as he came to a stop at her bedside.

“Good, you’re still awake.” He sighed, reaching to pull at her bed sheets so he could get in beside her.

Vanya laid her hands over the top so they wouldn’t move.

Five looked down at her hands for a moment before glancing up at her face. He had to squint to make out her expression through the darkness, his eyes penetrating.

“Vanya?”

“I – I’d rather be alone.” She mumbled, not having the heart to look at him when she made her rejection.

He was silent for so long she had to in the end.

“Five?” Vanya asked. “Did you hear me?”

“Yes.” He said lowly, his rough tone making her look away again. Her chest clenched curiously at the sound of his voice. “Someone got in the Academy once, I should be _here_. With you.

“I’ll sleep in your desk chair.” Five finished, determined. He picked it up and set it down next to her bed, sitting in it before she could object.

“Five...”

“ _Vanya_.” He said stubbornly, crossing his arms.

“What I really meant – when I said I wanted to be alone. I – I’d actually...” She huffed, forcing herself to say the next words. “I don’t want you here, Five.”

He leaned forward suddenly and gathered up her hands from the bed. “Vanya. I’m _sorry_. I should have been here to protect you. But I got to you as _soon_ as I could. And I’m here now. If I had it my way, I’d never leave you again.”

Tugging at his grip, Five resolutely kept hold of her. He was stronger than her, and Vanya gave up on trying to free herself with a frustrated groan.

“Five...”

“I’m sorry, Vanya. I don’t what else I can say. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Just tell me how? How do I get things back to normal?”

“Five, you’re not listening to me.” She sighed, trying to keep quiet, too aware of the thin walls beside them.

“I’m so sorry.” He said, pulling their hands up to his face and pressing a hard kiss to the back of her hand. Her heart thudded hard in her chest, her ribs protesting from the sudden attack, but she remained stubborn and yanked her hands back towards the bed. They were still encased in Five’s, her skin burning, but she gained his attention with the movement.

“Vanya...”

“ _Shut up_.” She bit back. “You’re not _listening_ to me.”

He looked up at her with wide eyes, unaccustomed to Vanya speaking to him in such a way.

“Five. Everything in this house is a _lie_.”

“That’s news to you?” Five scoffed.

“Everything is different now. We’re getting visited by social services. I can’t take my pills anymore. Pogo’s _dead_. Everyone knows who I am now, that I _exist_. The people who killed the kidnappers are still out there and they might come after me...” She reeled off.

“Which is why I should be here.”

“I _know_ , you didn’t know,” Vanya said thickly. “But I was still _waiting_ for you.”

Five tried to pull her hands close again, feeling wounded by her admission, but she resisted, managing to prise one free.

“I was convinced you’d come for me. Even when the police turned up, I was looking for you. And at the station, I _waited_.” She explained, a tear escaping her eye which she quickly wiped away so he wouldn’t notice it. “My whole life I’ve been told that I’m ordinary and to stay out of your way because you were all training to save people. You were doing important things because you’re extraordinary. But you couldn’t even save _me_. What’s the point of suffering through this if, when _I’m_ the one in danger, when _I’m_ the person who needs to be saved, none of you _turns up_! Even when I was probably kidnapped _because_ of you all. It’s like I’m even less than anyone else. Ordinary people get saved, but me and Pogo can just go and die because we don’t matter to you. We’re nothing.”

Five sounded distraught. “ _Vanya_ , I would never think that about you.”

“I know. I _know_.” She sobbed, but caught herself and forced her voice to be steady again. “You couldn’t have known, none of you knew anything had happened, but I spent four days thinking that and it’s just how I _feel_. Now all of you keep talking about things going back to normal. Don’t you see, nothing will ever be normal again? How can it be?”

Desperately scratching at the back of his hand freed her completely from his grasp and Vanya pushed herself back against the wall to force space between them. Five tried to follow her, sliding from his chair, but she raised her palms to stop him.

“My entire world’s been turned upside down. I used to know where you fit into it Five, but I don’t know anymore.” Vanya said, her voice apologetic as she knew she was hurting him, but the thought of pretending with one more person killed her. She had to lie all day; if there was one person she should be able to share how she felt with it was Five. Someone had to know the rage loitering beneath the surface, the sadness threatening to drown her. Someone had to know she didn’t know whether to consider her family _family_ anymore.

“So, _please_. Please leave me alone tonight. I can’t go back to the way things were, and if you stay here with me we will. I need to learn.”

“Learn what?” Five whispered.

“Who I’m meant to be now.”

“I _know_ who you are.” He implored. “You’re my best friend. You’re the only one who listens to me, who believes in me when I talk about time travelling. You look after me when I’m injured. You’re the one I want to talk to at the end of the day, you’re...”

“I’m not saying I don’t want to be your friend, Five,” Vanya said, dropping her hands. Her stomach coiled at the thought of never sitting close to him again or having him confide in her. But she had to remain strong, even if she wanted to reach out and brush that stray lock of hair from his eyes. “I just need space.”

“I’m not – you need to be protected.” He insisted, falling onto his last line of argument to stay.

“The walls are thin. Mom is checking the corridor more than she used to. I’ll be fine.”

Gritting his teeth, Five had to take a minute before he could speak again. “You _really_ want me to go?”

“Yes, please.” She breathed.

Giving something between a nod and a shake of his head, Five stood up from her chair. He stared down at her for a moment, hoping if he lingered she would change her mind. Vanya remained firm however, and he had no choice but to go.

When the flash of blue filled her room for the final time that night, Vanya reached out a blind hand for her pillow, quickly pressing it over her mouth. She cried into it, muffling the sound of her tears as best as she could as she felt her world collapse in on itself. Outside the rain fell from nowhere, catching the city off guard for a second time that week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I got sick again. All things considered though, I think I've done quite well to write a 9,000 word chapter within one week while being ill! Don't I spoil you all? Why don't you spoil me with a kudos or comment if you liked the chapter, they're always much appreciated. And thank you to everyone who's been in touch so far, your kind words keep me going! Hope you're all well, and none of you have caught that horrible flu strain that took me down 🤞 Until next time.


	5. Head

“How long do you think you’ll be there?” Vanya asked, sullenly watching him pack.

“I don’t know, Vanya.” Five sighed, being unintentionally impatient with her as he tried to find everything Reginald had requested they bring. Grace had distributed packing lists after their debriefing that morning, since he clearly thought they were all idiots who couldn’t clothe themselves. “He’s told me to pack seven uniforms, so I guess there’s a chance we could be there for a week.”

“Oh.” She mumbled.

Looking over at her, he saw her fingers plucking at the edge of his blanket. She was sitting cross-legged at the head of his bed, where he’d urged her to sit while he packed. It seemed their opportunities for time together would be limited that week, and he wanted to have her around as much as he could until their temporary separation started. 

“Well,” Vanya said, trying to make her tone more cheerful. “Paris should be fun. Mom did a lesson on it in our French classes. There are lots of nice sights to see.”

“I can’t imagine this is going to be a vacation, Vanya.” He said, trying to dispel any illusions Vanya had that they would all be going off on a happy holiday while she was left behind. “It’s a _mission_. We’ll probably have people shooting at us or coming at us with knives. There’s nothing to be jealous of.”

“I’m not jealous,” Vanya said unconvincingly.

Snorting in response, Five dropped the pair of shorts he had been folding and moved to her side. Tilting her face up by her chin, he scanned her face and sighed at the despair he saw there. No matter how much she tried to hard it, she wasn’t as good a liar as the rest of them were. 

“Mom thinks we’ll only be gone for a few days, we’re just packing extra in case the mission drags out.” He told her. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

Pulling her face from his grasp to nod, Five could tell he’d done nothing to cheer her up.

“Hey.”

It took a few moments but, eventually, Vanya met his eye.

“I _promise_. I promise I’ll have a miserable time. I promise I’ll get you a present. And I promise I’ll be back before you know it.”

Scanning his face, she slowly offered him a smile.

“Okay?” Five prompted.

“Okay,” Vanya replied, still grinning. 

“Now, are you just going to sit there or are you going to help me pack?” 

* * *

Pacing the floor of his room, Five felt like picking up the nearest item of furniture and smashing it against the wall. The house wasn’t safe, it was a proven fact, and yet he was meant to just go up to bed and fall asleep like everything was fine?

Clenching his hands into fists, his short nails cutting into the palms, he glanced at his desk where his notebook lay. Usually when he was agitated he would work on his equations, but it was impossible tonight. His skin felt too tight; Five wanted to claw at it to find release – instead, he kept pacing the length of the room. 

Vanya would fall asleep soon, she had to be exhausted after the last few days. Part of him wanted to jump downstairs and keep watch, regardless of what she had said about being safe on the main children’s floor with the other Academy members close by. _He_ was the best fighter; she’d be safest with _him_.

Taking another turn about the room, his head cocked when he thought he heard something beyond the confines of his room. Like the last dozen times he thought there was a movement in the mansion however, it turned out to be the rustle of leaves from the tree outside his window. The weather had taken a surprisingly bad turn for that time of year, but Five’s only annoyance stemmed from the fact the howling winds were making it hard to listen out for danger. 

With a resigned sigh, knowing he wouldn’t be able to rest until he had confirmation that the Academy was secure, Five jumped downstairs to the surveillance room so he could check the cameras. After fixing Grace, it had been the next thing Reginald had done upon their return – instead of rushing to bring Vanya home, which Five was still angry about. Perhaps if they had gotten there sooner – if Reginald hadn’t dragged them around Paris for photo opportunities, or if their plane hadn’t been delayed taking off, or if they’d gone to the police station the _instant_ they found out what had happened – maybe, then Vanya might have been able to forgive him.

Looking at the feeds, Five saw that the children’s corridor was empty, as was every other floor he scanned. With a resigned sigh, feeling curiously disappointed about the lack of activity, Five went back to his room and continued in his restlessness. Pacing near his wardrobe brought him to a pause however, and he opened it to root through the things he had brought back from Paris. 

They seemed pathetic even when he took them, let alone at that moment. A few postcards of landmarks Vanya had once gushed about, a small figurine of the Eiffel Tower and some little boiled sweets. Hardly anything that would redeem him in Vanya’s book. Still, he resolved to give them to her tomorrow. She deserved something from him – no matter how trite – to compensate for his failures. 

With a sigh, Five finally flopped back on his bed; unable to remember the last time he had slept in it for a whole night. Forcefully clenching his eyes shut, he tried to sleep, but the ever howling winds kept him on edge. He wondered if they were keeping Vanya up too. She was always such a light sleeper. Maybe he should check that she was all right. Chances were she was asleep and would never notice his reappearance. 

Going back to the surveillance room, intending to switch the cameras for the children’s corridor off so he could listen outside her door, he was surprised to find himself in pitch black – the screens off and the lights non-responsive, no matter how many times he flipped the switch. Cracking open the door, he looked out onto the ground floor halls, which were always left lit at night, and saw they were also off. While there was a chance the storm had knocked out the power to the building, Five knew there was a back-up generator in the basement Reginald had for such occasions. This _had_ to be deliberate.

Jumping back to the children’s floor, he went first to Ben’s room, shaking his brother awake and telling him to rouse the others. 

“What?”

“Just do it.” He urged, keeping his voice low. Pulling Ben’s curtains aside, he saw the rest of the street was fully illuminated, ruling out the chance this had resulted from the storm. “Power to the Academy has been cut. All the cameras are off. Might be another attack. Go now.”

At his tone, Ben bolted out of bed and ran straight to Luther’s room.

Instead of going to his teammates to help devise a plan or to warn the adults, Five teleported to Vanya’s room. Unlike Ben, she didn’t need waking, through the darkness he could see that Vanya was already sat up straight.

“Five?” She squinted through the darkness. 

“Yeah, it’s me.” He assured.

“I think I hear someone downstairs.”

He strained to listen, but he couldn’t hear anything over the worsening storm outside, the rain now lashing against the windows with such force he was concerned the glass would break under its pressure. 

“We’ll check it out, Ben’s waking up the others now. You stay in here.”

“But...”

“Please, Vanya. I need to know you’re safe if I’m going to go do this. I’ll move your dresser in front of the door so no one can get in,” he said as he did just that, “I’ll jump back once we’re sure it’s all clear out there.”

“But, _Five_...” Vanya tried again, but Five could hear the others running along the corridor and knew he had to go. 

“Keep quiet, I’ll be back as soon as I can. You’ll be safe, I promise!” He urged, before teleporting to join the Academy members. Luther had already decided on their course of action, and Diego caught him up.

Luther and Allison had rushed to inform Dad while the boys were split into pairs and started checking the floors. Klaus and Diego headed upstairs. Once they’d informed Reginald of the power-cut, Allison and Luther were to check the guest rooms and Grace would survey the perimeter. All of them, fumbling around the house, in the dark, with no way to communicate. Five thought it was a bad idea, but with everyone already splitting up there wasn’t much he could do to remedy it.

“Vanya thought she heard something from downstairs. Below her bedroom is the drawing room, so we should start there.” Five told Ben, who nodded in agreement and followed his lead. Checking the drawing room, they saw it was empty, however, one of the windows was wide open, the drapes swirling in the wind that gushed in from the outside.

“Maybe they came in that way?” Ben suggested.

“It would trigger an alarm, you _know_ that.” Five replied a little too aggressively, eager to catch up with the intruders before they could do anything.

“Let’s keep looking.”

“I don’t like this.” Five muttered as they moved on. 

“Maybe it’s just an overzealous fan?” Ben said optimistically.

“They’re not this clean.”

“Who do you think it is then? Terminal?”

“No. I think it’s the same people who killed Vanya’s kidnappers. The police said she might be a target. And if they could get past the police’s security measures...”

“Then shouldn’t we be with her?”

“I barricaded her in her bedroom, she’ll be fine.” Five insisted, trying to convince himself of that more than Ben. “But we’ll head back once we’ve checked the rest of this floor. We should stop by the training room too and grab some weapons from the storage cabinet, we don’t know what they’re capable of.”

“Okay.” Ben agreed, continuing to follow Five.

At the back of the training room was a reinforced cupboard, secured with a finger print pad and number code, in which Reginald stored multiple types of weapons for the Academy to practice with. Both in use and disarmament. It was quite the collection, and Five planned on helping himself to several items he favoured. Yet, as they got closer, they saw the always locked gun case was open, several firearms missing, including some semi-automatics. Diego’s knife collection was several blades short too, but to Five that didn’t seem nearly as disconcerting as the absent explosives.

“Shit, they took the grenades?” Ben hissed. “How did they even get it open? Or know that it was here?”

“What the fuck are they planning?” Five muttered. He helped himself to a handgun and several magazine clips, which he shoved into the waistband of his shorts to keep his hands free.

“Number Five. Number Six.” Reginald called from behind them, making Ben flinch. Looking in his direction, Five could only see a faint outline of his figure across the shadowy room. The voice was unmistakably his however; Five’s back automatically straightening in response to it. “Secure the children’s corridor. Grace has already checked the exits. I will restore the power.”

Five was ready to teleport to Vanya’s side when a blast rocked the ground under his feet. 

“That came from the kitchen.”

“But why would they...” Five started, thinking about the kitchen’s location. There was nothing around that room of any importance, nor above and below it. Maybe it was a diversion.

“Go there _now_ ,” Reginald commanded, cutting him off, repeating his order with greater vitriol when Five hesitated. 

Swearing under his breath, Five jumped there and found Diego holding a towel to Klaus’ head, trying to stem some bleeding. The localised explosion had torn apart the cabinets and the table was upended, which had fortunately shielded them from the debris. Dust was falling from the ceiling which Five impatiently waved out of his eyes. 

“Why aren’t you upstairs?” He asked, confused by their presence there. 

“Gee, I’m _fine_ Five, thanks for asking.” Klaus huffed.

“We heard a scream from this direction, so we came here,” Diego answered, pressing the fabric even tighter against the gash on Klaus’ forehead, prompting a loud whine. “Shut up you baby.”

“We didn’t hear a scream, and we were on this floor.” Five disputed, glancing around the room. In the corner, where the blast was most extreme, he could identify some remnants of a grenade shell. There were also some electrical wires and what looked like a grill. It reminded him of a speaker.

The intruders were laying traps for them. The window in the drawing room was likely a diversion too, all to draw the Academy away from the real target.

A shriek came from above them and Five didn’t question its authenticity; able to recognise that voice anywhere.

“Are they going for Vanya again?” Diego asked to thin air, as Five had already teleported towards the cry. Grabbing Klaus and Ben, who had just come through the doorway to investigate the explosion, Diego urged them upstairs.

Five landed on the children’s corridor and saw Vanya’s door hanging off its hinges. Running as fast as he could, unconcerned by the danger he could be barrelling towards, he nearly skidded across the floor when he finally turned into her bedroom. Confused by the wet surface, he glanced around the room but could barely see anything. The murkiness seemed to extend beyond the blackened manor, the storm so wild it blocked out the faintest flickers of light from the outside world. 

“Vanya?” He called, voice shaking with panic. She had to be all right, he couldn’t have failed her again.

A small whimper from his right drew him in. She was huddled in a small ball in the room's corner, rocking slightly.

He fumbled towards her, but Vanya curled even tighter around herself, flinching away from the movement.

“No, _please_. I don’t want to hurt you.” She begged into her knees, not looking up.

Something squelched behind him, promoting an exclaim of disgust from Diego who had just caught up.

Slowly, the light overhead flickered on as Reginald restored power to the building.

Vanya had backed herself into a corner, cocooned into a small expanse of white wall that just about encompassed her tiny frame. The rest of her usually sterile walls dripped liberally, the floor fully drenched and ceiling splattered heavily with the thick remains of her attackers; now obliterated into nothing but a coat of red paint that made their eyes burn to look upon. Only Ben was familiar with such gore; his eyes full of pity rather than disgust.

Her furniture had been obliterated, small splinters sprinkled in amongst the blood. The windows had shattered too, and Five was careful to avoid the glass as he moved. Looking around, he didn’t understand how she could have survived such devastation.

Cautiously, in wake of the pained silence that befell the Umbrella Academy, Vanya raised her head. Her eyes were ethereally white but not unseeing, taking in the bloody scene with a detached appreciation.

Five stumbled towards her again and this time she allowed it, sighing as he pulled her up and into a tight embrace.

“Where were you?” She accused, a sudden sob racking her frame as the shock morphed into terror.

He clutched at her even harder, not knowing what to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought it was high time Five got his own chapter to see what was going on with him. I know this chapter is a bit short compared to the others, but I haven't been in much of a writing mood lately - I'm doing a lot of writing at work so it's pretty much the last thing I want to do when I get home! I hope you all like it though, and I'll try to update soon! <3
> 
> Oh and I'm going to post a picture on tumblr of what inspired that last scene. A shot from the epically awesome TV show Fringe.


	6. Ouch

The children all followed Reginald numbly when he instructed them to; too confused by what had just happened to resist the explicit order. They presumed they were going to the infirmary until the secret passageway to the basement was revealed. The atmosphere between them was too claustrophobic to break by asking questions however, and they had ridden to the lower levels in silence.

The whole way down, with Vanya held in Five’s arms, she had a feeling of unpleasant familiarity. By the time they stopped outside the vaulted door, she knew she had been there before.

“Number Five, place Number Seven inside the vault.”

Five stared through the open door numbly for a split second, taking in the jagged walls and heavy iron door, before fury overtook his shock and a torrent of thinly contained rage spilled forth. “Why? You’re not locking her in there!” He insisted, holding Vanya even tighter against his chest. She didn’t mind. Her head lolled against his neck – it felt like her body had been sapped of all its energy, her eyelids felt like lead and she wished she could go back to bed. Not that her bed existed anymore. Apparently, her powers had destroyed that.

“Put Number Seven inside the vault now,” Reginald instructed sternly.

“Five…” Luther started, “…just do it. You saw what happened earlier. It’s what’s best.”

“For who?” Five asked sharply.

“The vault neutralises her powers,” Reginald said, not happy about having to explain himself further when his orders should be followed without hesitation. “It suppresses sound waves, which she feeds off.”

“You bastard.” Five snarled. “You _knew_! What did you do to her?”

The sound of Five’s voice, which was usually such a comfort, felt like nails scraping against a blackboard. Why was everything so loud? It felt like she could hear everything; the racing heartbeats of her scared siblings, the endless sound of traffic beyond the brick walls of the Academy, Grace’s heels clicking against the floor as she made her way towards the secret elevator, the backdoor in the kitchen being quietly opened. She felt like screaming, except the sound of her voice would probably split her head open.

“Her powers are dangerous,” Allison piped up. “Did you see what she _did_ to those guys?”

“It was an accident.” Ben defended. “They attacked her. We should have protected her.”

“Instead we were running around like idiots,” Diego grumbled to himself.

“Quiet?” Vanya murmured against Five’s neck. Quiet sounded like bliss.

Someone was tiptoeing around the ground floor. She could hear a click, not like a gun but like someone was using a camera.

“She needs to go in the vault, Number Five,” Reginald said darkly.

“Just do what Dad says.” Allison insisted.

He was going upstairs now, towards the children’s rooms. His camera kept clicking steadily. She wasn’t sure why the others weren’t investigating, the sound was so loud flashes of light exploded behind her eyes with every snap.

“Five.” Vanya tried again, her voice barely a whisper.

“What about when social services come tomorrow?” Klaus said, his tone desperate. “You can’t lock her up, okay. They’ll see it, won’t they?”

“Number Seven will resume her medication before then,” Reginald replied. “Now put her inside the vault.”

A horrified gasp, and the camera dropped to the ground. The lens shattered but they didn’t care. Frantically, the person upstairs ran for the phone they had passed earlier. They missed running into Grace by half a minute.

“Put her inside, Five.” Luther echoed.

“Do it.”

“No!” Five insisted, furious and protective. “I’m not letting you lock her up!”

“Five.” Vanya whimpered, finally audible.

He immediately comforted her, ducking his head and muttering assurances. “It’s okay. It’s okay, I won’t let them.”

“Please, Five.” She sobbed back. “Everything’s so loud.”

He faltered at her plea.

“Put her inside the vault, Number Five,” Reginald repeated.

Grimly, Five obliged. Walking forward, he went inside the vault and surveyed it with dismay. It was barren of furniture, its blackened walls dauntingly enclosing and the floor hard. Dropping down so he was sat cross-legged, he kept Vanya in his arms where she would be comfortable.

“Number One will seal the vault door,” Reginald told Five, Luther immediately moving to complete his order. “You will teleport outside the vault once it is secure. When Grace arrives, you will take Vanya her medication. Understood?”

Five didn’t answer, keeping his focus on Vanya. She met his eyes as best she could.

The door slammed shut and the wheel spun as Luther effortlessly locked them in. As soon as he sealed the room Vanya sighed with relief. She could no longer hear the man’s frantic calls for help, the tedious clacking of Grace’s shoes or the hearts that beat in terror because of her.

“Better?” Five asked, keeping his voice low for fear of hurting her.

She hummed lightly.

A movement beyond the glass caught their attention. Reginald was trying to beckon Five over to the Academy’s side. Vanya expected him to set her down and jump. Instead, he raised a hand and gave their father the finger.

“Ass-hole.” Five said, slowly enunciating the word so it could be clearly understood outside the soundproof chamber with no room for misinterpretation.

Reginald snarled but knew better than to order the chamber open to remove Five forcibly.

Vanya waited until the family filed back into the elevator to speak.

“Five, you have to go.”

“What?” He said too sharply, immediately apologising when she flinched. “Shit, sorry. But I’m not leaving you here alone.”

“Five, there’s someone in the house.” She told him.

“What?” He exclaimed, making her groan. “Fuck, I’ve got to stop doing that. Sorry.”

He gently set her down, shucking off his jacket and balling it up to put under her head. “I’ll go sound the alarm, catch them, then go get us some pillows or something, try to make this place a little more…”

“No, Five,” Vanya said, catching his arm. “It’s not someone else attacking the Academy. It’s a journalist…”

Snorting, he told her that was probably even worse.

“He saw my room.” She said, confirming his statement. “He called the police. They’ll be on their way now.”

Five’s look of concern immediately melted away, confusing her completely. “Brilliant.”

“What?” 

“They’ll find us down here. Oh, there’s no way Dad can talk his way out of this.” He grinned, sitting down again and pulling her back onto his lap.

“Five. They’ll, they’ll see what I did!”

“You defended yourself.” He told her sternly.

“I murdered them. I _obliterated_ them.” She replied, unable to adopt such a blasé attitude towards murder.

“You did the right thing.” Five said confidently.

“How can you say that?” Vanya insisted, pushing herself out of his embrace. He reluctantly let her go. “The right thing would have been calling the police. Those men probably knew something about why I was kidnapped. Now I might never know.”

“Those men could have killed you.”

“Did you see what I did, Five? Maybe that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing!”

“Don’t say something like that to me.” He said darkly. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You could have done that to everyone in this house for all I care. Don’t say that kind of shit, Vanya!”

“That? _Murder_ , Five. Say it. I _murdered_ them!” Vanya shouted, jumping to her feet.

“You did what needed to be done.” He intoned, slowly mirroring her.

“Is that what you do?” She asked sharply.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“There has to be a better way of doing things.” She insisted, trying not to feel guilty over the hurt expression she’d inspired in Five.

“Maybe there is.” Five huffed. “For normal people. We’re not _normal_ , Vanya.”

She looked at him sadly, feeling the anger that had arrived so suddenly ebb away. “I was a few days ago.”

“I know how hard this must be…”

“No, you don’t.” She sighed. “You’ve been special your entire life. You’ve had powers your whole life.”

“So have you.”

“It’s not the same and you know it.”

He opened his mouth to retort but thought better of it. After a moment, he sighed. “No, I don’t know. But I want to. I want to know, Vanya. Don’t shut me out again.”

Brushing the bangs from her face, she looked at him sadly. “What are we going to do?”

Holding out his hand, Five tried to bridge the gap between them. “I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out together, okay?”

“Vanya!” Eddie exclaimed as Jamie and Shawn finally finished prising open the vault door. The blonde detective rushed in and crouched before her. “Thank god, we’ve been looking everywhere for you. Are you all right?”

Vanya glanced at Five. “I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a short chapter, which is why I am releasing two chapters today. The next will be up in a moment once I have finished giving it one last read through.


	7. Observation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From an OC's POV this chapter - Agent Shawn Holdsworth, the FBI agent.

Making sure his brief was in order, Shawn waited outside the conference room, glancing at his watch every other second as if that would make time move faster.

His superiors at the FBI had invited representatives from other national security and intelligence branches to attend and listen to his status report on the Umbrella Academy. It was not the first time Shawn had to deliver a report on the Hargreeves’ children, but it was a report he had been waiting to give for a long time. In their eyes, his long-held suspicions had finally been proven right.

From the day the Umbrella Academy debuted, it was clear they were people to watch. Some saw them as their heroes – as Reginald Hargreeves wanted the world to – others saw them as a potential threat. Several agencies had quickly launched surveillance operations on the Umbrella Academy within hours of their first mission. Monitoring their missions, press statements, public lives. Others dived into the backgrounds of the children, assessing the possibility that other powered children existed in the world and what risk they carried.

The FBI had an advantage with Agent Holdsworth, however. They just didn’t realise how much.

“Shawn.” Assistant Director Arthur Andrews summoned, opening the door to summon him inside.

“Sir.” He nodded, making quick greetings to the other people in the room. A wall of nervous faces greeted him as Shawn made his way to the front.

“Has everyone seen the brief I forwarded?”

“Yes, we were just discussing it,” Arthur said, taking his seat.

“As you all know, we confirmed the existence of Number Seven on March 31st 2002.” He clicked on the projection head and the photograph of Number Seven standing on a bank roof with Reginald Hargreeves filled up the screen. “The same day the Umbrella Academy had their first public appearance. Her presence suggested to us that there were possibly other children with powers, yet she never took part in missions with her siblings or individually. Multiple theories arose but now,” he changed the image on the slide, “we have confirmation.”

Turning slightly he looked at the scientific nonsense on the screen which he was sure no one in the room understood. That didn’t stop them all from nodding at the lab report understandingly. “Our scientists isolated a compound in Vanya Hargreeves’ blood, taken when she was rescued from her abductors. Reginald Hargreeves administered her this drug from the age of four. It is capable of subduing her powers. Powers which,” another slide change, “can be used to devastating effect.”

A ripple of repulsion spread around the room at the carnage on the screen.

“Reginald Hargreeves considered her powers to be too great a threat to leave uncontrolled and used drugs to neutralise them. From looking at this,” he said, holding up a red leather-bound notebook, “we can also ascertain that Allison Hargreeves’ powers were used to convince Vanya she was naturally powerless.”

More murmurs, but Shawn persisted. “His attempts to control her powers were successful for nearly ten years. We can grant Reginald Hargreeves that. But it was a control which was tenuous at best. And when control is lost. Well,” he glanced at the photograph which underscored his point in perfect technicolour, “it can have disastrous consequences.”

“What are you saying? What’s our move here?” Arthur prompted.

“The Umbrella Academy has always been problematic,” Shawn stated. There was no argument there; the state, the country, the foreign nations they visited, they were all constantly cleaning up the messes the Umbrella Academy left behind.

“Overlooking the good they have accomplished, which they have to a degree, they are vigilantes. Not held to the full account of the law. Free operatives in every country they choose to visit, who have been given more free rein by our world’s security agencies than any ordinary person would receive. At first, we trusted that Reginald Hargreeves’ scientific background would give him the ability to train these children. Ensure their powers were not misused. Now? Now, I say, we put our faith in a man with feet of clay. Within one week his Academy has been breached _twice_ , putting the security of all the children in danger. We have found strong evidence that the children’s powers have been misused to Hargreeves’ advantage on multiple occasions – Allison Hargreeves’ powers especially – and now, the child who could pose the largest threat to national and international security is aware of her true abilities. Do we really want to put her back in the hands of someone who has proven himself so incompetent?” He questioned.

“We need to take advantage of his crimes – and they _are_ crimes, we have all the evidence we need to back that up in court, no matter how many lawyers he brings to the table – and put a stop to the Umbrella Academy’s vigilantism once and for all.”

“Place them onto our other projects?” Another attendee asked.

“No. They’re too high profile. Whatever we do next will be watched closely, not just by the media but by our international allies and enemies. We can’t be seen to exploit their powers in any way. They need as normal an upbringing as they can get. Once they are legally of age, we can discuss recruitment. Bring them in as experts, appeal to their sense of superior knowledge, something like that,” Shawn waved his hand, “we’ll figure it out then.”

“Then where will they go?” Arthur asked.

“We do what we would do in any typical case of child abuse.” Shawn insisted, no hesitation in his answer. “Remove Reginald Hargreeves’ legal connections to the children, so he cannot seek any claim to them after serving jail time, and then either place the children in foster care or try to re-home them with any living relatives we can find. Investigations have run for the past year, trying to explain the circumstances of their births. What we’ve turned up so far, coupled with evidence collected from the Academy, we have a good chance of finding their real families. Luckily for us, the manner in which Hargreeves’ collected the children was rather dubious. We shouldn’t face too much of a legal hassle there. Surveillance will, of course, continue on all seven children regardless of where they end up.”

Arthur looked at him dubiously. “And the girl? Vanya Hargreeves.”

“Exactly as I just outlined,” Shawn told him. “She goes back to her real family or to people who can properly care for her. We monitor her powers, offer training and if we see any negative results, the drug engineered by Hargreeves can be administered.”

Nodding, Arthur looked around at the other people. “Thank you, Agent Holdsworth. We will let you know the outcome of this meeting shortly.”

“Thank you, Assistant Director.”

Slackening his tie as he made his way towards his office, Shawn took a minute to breathe. There were times when he was certain he’d prefer to face twelve men, armed with axes, alone and single-handed then give a presentation to a wall of bureaucracy. He couldn’t wait to get back to real fieldwork once they had dealt with this mess.

He took a seat behind his desk after he’d drawn the blinds and made a sweep of the room. Eventually, Frank made his way to the chair opposite him.

“Well?”

“I checked for bugs, we’re good.”

“Your report made the impact we were hoping for. They will approve your proposal. We have sent a list of charges to Hargreeves’ legal counsel and you will attend a meeting with,” Frank paused and flipped open the folder Shawn had provided at the conference, “Mary Thorogood, to inform the children. There will undoubtedly be some disagreement from them.”

“I’ll handle it.” Shawn dismissed.

“Don’t get cocky too soon,” Frank warned. “I’ve been down this road before. Things have a habit of going wrong when the Hargreeves’ family is involved.”

“Well, they won’t be a family for much longer.” He retorted.

“The children will be involved in the legal process to a degree, the collection of testimonies will enable us to separate them and once we’ve broken up the unit they should be easier to handle. When we finish locating their birth parents, we expect things will move even faster. The government wants this wrapped up quickly. You know what you need to do?”

“I’m going for a drive through Vermont this weekend, everything I need is packed up,” Shawn said. “It’s all set, Waltz helped me.”

“Any flower preference?” Frank joked.

“I want the biggest wreath you can find.” Shawn chuckled.

“Will any of the other children pose a problem?”

“Their attachments vary. Several of them won’t protest too much, especially, I think, once we reunite them with their birth families. Number Five will be difficult however.”

“He always was. Will Vanya cooperate? You know what can happen if she’s provoked.”

“I have a strategy. We’ll be able to move her to a secure location within the next day.” He promised.

“Remember what I just said about getting cocky? They _will_ watch us carefully. I’m already taking a chance getting so closely involved in the timeline.”

Shawn managed to give a cool nod. “I’ve got this.”

“You’d better have. The world’s counting on you, and I’m not being hyperbolic.” Frank said, standing up. “Good luck.”

They shook hands and he left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so for those of you who didn't read Metamorphosis - the reason for my hiatus between updates recently has been that my dog died and I have several relatives in ill health. I'm determined to get this finished now however and I have this story fully mapped out. These two chapters were short, I know, but they needed to set up some important things for the last chapter. And yes, I'm being final about the next chapter being the last!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this and that this was enough of a curveball for you. Would hate for you to get bored.   
> P.S. I don't know if they gave an exact date for that bank/hostage mission in S1, I couldn't find out so I made one up.


	8. Eureka

“…withholding evidence in an ongoing criminal investigation, extortion, bribery, tax avoidance, misuse of public grant money, fraud, fabricating official documents, possession of list one and list two chemicals designated illegal under the Controlled Substances Act…” Shawn sighed, flipping over another page to continue reading the charges, “…unauthorised chemical testing on animals _and_ the unlawful purchase and possession of a wild animal.”

“We weren’t abused,” Luther said dumbly once Agent Holdsworth had finished reading all the charges against their Father. Child abuse was the only one which registered with him.

Mary nodded understandingly. “I know this must be confusing for you but…”

“This is all your fault,” Allison said, folding her arms haughtily and glaring at Vanya out the corner of her eye.

“ _But_ ,” Mary continued, “that’s no reason to throw unfounded accusations at one another. None of this is your or your siblings’ fault. Arguing amongst yourselves will help no one.”

“I’ll testify on Dad’s behalf.” Luther volunteered, not even noticing Allison’s outburst, too focused on righting their world.

“All of you will be called upon to testify during the trial,” Shawn told them. “We have regulations in place however so none of you has to go into the courtroom with Reginald there if you don’t want to.”

He smiled at them reassuringly. At least Vanya felt reassured. The other children looked shell shocked.

“You want me to testify against my Dad?” Allison exclaimed.

“I’m not doing that.” Luther protested.

“Testify about what?” Diego said dubiously.

“And he’ll know about it?” Ben asked nervously.

Mary raised her hands. “I know you all have a lot of questions but, given the number of charges your adopted father is facing, in all likelihood, this won’t go to trial for several months. In the meantime, we need to discuss your re-homing.”

“Mom will look after us,” Diego stated.

“Your Mother is evidence in the investigation into your Father. She’s being stor-homed,” Shawn caught himself, watching Diego’s face twist into a glower at the insinuation his mother was anything like an inanimate object, “at the DA’s offices. As it is still to be ascertained if she was complicit in your Father’s crimes, we cannot place you in her care.”

“But after the trial…”

Shawn cut him off. “After the trial, another hearing will have to be convened to decide whether an android could act as a suitable caregiver.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Luther said, taking his turn to speak over Diego. “After the trial, we’ll be going home, anyway. Dad is _innocent_.”

Neither adult tried to contradict them but Vanya could see by the pity radiating in their eyes; they didn’t believe Luther’s statement in the slightest.

“In the meantime,” Mary said, “you need to be re-homed.”

“So, foster care?” Five said.

Vanya glanced at him. While everyone else was either pacing the room, on the edge of their seats or trying to curl into themselves, Five was confidently sprawled in his chair, seemingly without a care in the world.

“For now, yes. There is another avenue to discuss with you however.” Mary said, glancing at Shawn. “Agent Holdsworth, perhaps you can explain what you have so far?”

Nodding, he pushed forward the manila envelope before him to the centre of the table. Flipping it open, they saw it was filled with pictures.

“Using evidence collected from your Academy…”

“You can’t just take stuff from our home!” Luther protested.

“Actually, we can,” Shawn said, raising a brow. “We have a warrant to search the property and all other properties owned by Reginald Hargreeves. Now, as I was saying, using evidence collected from your Academy, we have already been able to locate three of your birth parents. And, we believe, with a few more weeks, we could find the rest of them.”

There was a collective intake of breath from each of the seven children.

Sorting through the photographs in front of him, Shawn pushed forward three different sets. The first was slid towards Allison.

“There is a picture of your birth-mother and her husband. And that is a photo of the three of you shortly after you were born.”

Allison snapped them up before anyone else could glimpse them, retreating to a corner of the room to look through them alone.

Shawn paid her no mind, placing the next set in front of Klaus.

“Your birth-mother was fifteen when she gave birth to you. Her name is Bertha Werner. There’s her school photo, taken around the time of your birth. And this,” he sorted through the pictures, looking for the right one, “is her a few weeks ago. She set up a charity to support single mothers and won a local community award – which is where this photograph was taken. We clipped it from a newspaper.”

Klaus picked up the photo Shawn had highlighted to him, holding it up close. After he scanned her face, he quickly showed her to Ben before looking at her again. Vanya had never seen him look so vulnerable. 

“We’ve already been in contact with her and to say she is open to meeting you would be an understatement.” Shawn chuckled softly. “She was ready to book a flight right away.”

The other five children fidgeted, wanting to know who was the last person to see their real parent.

“Finally, Diego. Your birth-mother moved to the U.S. from Mexico four years ago. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona.”

“Who cares,” Diego said, trying to sound bitter but only coming across as uncertain. He gingerly took the photograph Shawn offered him. “They don’t want us. They gave us away!” After glancing at it, he slapped it back on the table, face down.

Mary spoke up. “Your Father kept detailed notes about how he collected you all. He offered each of your birth-mothers significant amounts of money for you. Several of them were underage and unmarried, facing a lot of pressure to give you up. From the accounts collected, the births were traumatic. Somehow, Reginald Hargreeves located all of you within days of your birth. His accounts don’t give much information on how he accomplished this. Ben, you were found in a matter of _hours_. You were purchased from your birth-mothers. In Klaus’ case, your grandparents arranged everything.”

Klaus traced his mother’s face gently, trying not to ruin the picture as he committed her to memory. Allison was still standing silently in the corner.

“Papers were then forged, however from what we’ve found so far there’s no official documentation for your adoption.”

“Does that mean Reginald isn’t officially our Dad?” Five asked, leaning forward in his seat. He glanced at Vanya, but she was entirely focused on Mary’s answer.

“Not legally, no. _If_ your Father is acquitted after his trial, he would have to petition for formal adoption.”

The children erupted once again. Half of them excited, the others furious. It didn’t take long for the latter’s fury to turn towards Vanya once again.

“This is all your fault!” Allison repeated.

Diego glared at her and Luther appeared to be on the edge of following Allison into yelling at her.

Not in the mood, Vanya swiftly stood up and left the room.

Jamie and Eddie were waiting outside, and she had no qualms about walking straight into Eddie’s arms.

“You all right, kid?” Jamie asked, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

She initially thought that was directed at her until Five replied from behind her.

“Yeah, thanks.” He said tersely before returning to the rest of the Academy, shutting the door behind him.

“Come on, let’s go to the break room.” Eddie encouraged.

They sat her down at the table, Jamie producing a soda which was placed next to her elbow.

“I brought you more of my niece’s old clothes if you want them.” He offered. “I know they’re second hand, but…”

“We didn’t know if you’d still want to wear the uniform,” Eddie explained.

She smiled at them, opening the can. “Thank you, that sounds nice.” Taking a small sip of her drink, enjoying the still novel sensation of bubbles sweeping over her tongue, she waited for them to speak.

“How do you feel?” Eddie prompted after a moment of companionable silence.

Shrugging, she admitted, “Confused. Worried. Upset.”

“That’s understandable,” Jamie said with a slight laugh.

“Do you know what happened?” Vanya asked nervously, awaiting her judgement.

“Yes,” Eddie said, knowing she was referring to the attack on the Academy. “You don’t need to worry about that though.”

“It was in self-defence.” Jamie pitched in.

“And you had no idea about your powers. No one blames you, don’t worry about getting in any trouble.”

“I killed them.” She said lowly, still waiting for their condemnation, their disgust.

“Yes,” Eddie said simply. “And that’s hard to live with. We both know that.” She gestured between her and Jamie, who nodded in agreement.

“It always lives with you,” Jamie told her. “It gets a little easier every day though. Then one day, you wake up and realise you’ve come to peace with it. It just takes time to get there.”

Vanya shook her head. “No. It was wrong.”

“The world isn’t black and white, Vanya,” Eddie said, taking her hand and squeezing it comfortingly. “Not everything can be broken down into right and wrong.”

“Yes, it can.” She replied sadly. “I’m wrong. Why would all this have happened if I wasn’t?”

“It was self-defence…”

Eddie held up a hand, stopping Jamie in his tracks. “You’re talking about your powers?”

“I’m dangerous. Dad wouldn’t have given me the pills otherwise. I couldn’t control my powers, not like the others. Not then and not now.”

“That’s not fair to yourself, you didn’t know…”

“That’s not an excuse,” Vanya said fiercely.

“You had every right to know,” Jamie said with equal fervour. “Don’t defend that kind of behaviour, Vanya.”

“Jamie…” Eddie whispered, trying to dissuade him. They were meant to be impartial, no matter how deeply their dislike for Reginald Hargreeves ran.

“No. It’s not right.” Jamie retorted.

“My family thinks it is.” She said quietly, losing her energy as all her insecurities took over. “They wanted me to go into that room, to take my pills again. And they’re right, I should. I’m not like them, I’m not a superhero. I’m just ordinary, even with powers.”

The police officers glanced at each other.

“You’re a lot of things, Vanya. Ordinary isn’t one of them.” Eddie said.

“You’re one of the bravest people I know,” Jamie added. “With or without powers, you will do great things, Vanya. You just need to believe in yourself. You might get a chance too, now you’re out of that house.”

Vanya tried to believe them, but it was hard to imagine that she could ever come close to being extraordinary.

“I think I’ll go get changed now.” She said. Jamie passed her a carrier bag. “Thank you.”

“Hey, don’t mention it.” He smiled.

Heading into the adjoining bathroom, Vanya quickly changed into a pair of jeans – once again admiring how comfortable they were compared to her skirt and long socks – and a t-shirt which seemed to be emblazoned with some kind of band logo. She was just tying her hair back into a ponytail when there was a tap at the door.

“I’ll be right out.” She called, presuming it was Eddie coming to check on her.

The door pushed open and Five was there, not looking directly inside in case she was still occupied.

“Can I come in?”

“I think you already are,” Vanya said, snorting lightly.

His eyes flew to her. He walked in and shut the door behind him. “I just wanted to see how you are? I know this has been a lot.”

“Bit of an understatement, Five.”

“Yeah.” He agreed, running his hands through his hair. Hopping up onto the counter, he looked at her carefully. “How are you handling it?”

“As well as I can.” She shrugged. Leaning against one of the stalls, she folded her arms across her chest. “How about you?”

“Fucking terrible.” He sighed. “You left before the next bombshell.”

“Oh?”

“Luther is my brother. My _actual_ brother. We have the same birth-mother. It’s in Dad’s notebook. He watched us for years to see if our powers were connected. Dismissed the theory after a while and apparently never thought it was worth mentioning.”

“Luther is your twin?” Vanya repeated. She couldn’t imagine anything more unexpected, even her having powers. Five and Luther were as different as night and day.

“Shocker, I know.”

“How did Luther handle it?”

“Luther’s not handling anything. His head has been up his ass ever since we got back from Paris, and he’s decided to keep it there. He’s still convinced Dad will get out and everything will go back to normal. Already tried talking to that FBI agent…”

“Shawn.” Vanya supplied.

“Whatever. Asking him how they could continue to arrange Academy missions. He’s delusional.”

She agreed with him but didn’t say so out loud.

“What do you think is going to happen to the Umbrella Academy?”

“They won’t keep sending us on missions if that’s what you mean. Too much of a liability for them.” He said, sounding bitter.

“That makes sense.”

Five looked at her like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t push it. Instead, he steered the conversation onto another track.

“So we’re not siblings.”

“No. We’re still a family though. In a way,” Vanya amended. A weird family, but a family.

“No family I want to be a part of.” Five huffed. “Look, what Allison said before. None of us really think that. None of this is your fault.”

Vanya shrugged. “She’s right.”

Holding up a hand, she stopped Five from jumping to her defence. “I mean, she is. If I hadn’t been kidnapped, the police would never have investigated the Academy. Things would still be the same. But, maybe,” she took a deep breath, “maybe this is for the best. Maybe we can make something good out of this.”

Five nodded enthusiastically, sliding off the counter to come near her. “Yes. I know we can.”

She looked down as he wove their fingers together.

“As long as we’re together.” He clarified.

“Five, you know they’ll split us up. Even if our birth parents don’t take us in, we’ll end up in foster care and we could end up all over the state.”

“They won’t split us up, they’ll want to keep a close eye of us.”

“The Academy is more dangerous together than apart.”

“No.” Five insisted. “We’re more dangerous when we’re taken away from each other.”

The Academy didn’t seem dangerous when it was Vanya who was taken away.

“Did Shawn mention anything about the rest of our families?” She asked, longing to hear about her own. She was so disappointed when none of those pictures showed her mother.

“No.” He said, running a thumb over the back of her hand. “They don’t matter, not really. We’re not going with them.”

Vanya was incredulous at his reaction. “How can you say that? Haven’t you always wondered what they were like? If we were like them someway? To find out why they gave us up and if they ever missed us? How can you not want to find out? We might never get an opportunity like this again.”

“I don’t need to know about my birth-mother. I already have a family. My family’s right here.” He tugged their hands up, pressing her palm against his chest, resting over his heart. “ _You’re_ my family. You’re all I need.”

“You can’t build your life around one person, Five.” Vanya disagreed. She’d learned that hard lesson already. She’d learned the mistake of depending so fully on one person; on believing that Five would always be there with her no matter what. And when her world was left in pieces, other people had come along and helped her pick them up. Other people had illuminated her life, showing her things weren’t always as they appeared. They showed her that she needed to expand her world, not limit it. She didn’t even want to think what would have happened if she’d gone through something like that alone.

“Why not?” He argued.

“Because when you take that person away – or that person leaves you – you’d be left with nothing. And that’s not a good thing.” She said, bringing their hands away from his chest but keeping them linked together. “Family is important. Why wouldn’t you want more of it?”

“ _Why_? How about because our last family is currently facing trial for three pages worth of charges and is likely facing a lifetime in prison? How about because our last family trained us to kill people before we could form full sentences? Our last family treated us like shit.” Five said angrily. “Now, what? You expect me to trust someone who _sold_ me?”

“We can’t understand what they went through until we meet…”

“I’m not meeting any of them.” He declared.

“Then what are you going to do?” Vanya huffed.

“Run away.”

Blinking at him, it took her a moment before she could reply. “Where?”

“Wherever. Maybe whenever.”

“You want to time travel? Now?”

“I want _us_ to.” Five clarified. “Together.”

“Time travel seems risky…”

“Then we won’t. But let’s run. Dad’s in no position to track us down, now is the perfect time.”

“Now is a _terrible_ time.” Vanya rebutted, finding it hard not to laugh at his proposal. “Did you not see what I did yesterday? How am I meant to control my powers while we’re on the run?”

Someone tapped on the bathroom door. “Vanya, are you okay in there? You’ve been a while.” Eddie asked.

“I’m fine. I’m just putting up my hair.” She called back. “I’ll be right out.”

“Okay.”

“Look,” Five said quietly, “just think about it? Please?”

While she still thought it was an awful idea, she agreed.

“I better go outside before Eddie comes in,” Vanya said, pulling her hand from his.

“Vanya.”

“Yeah?” She turned back to him. His eyes were soft, the way they usually were when it was just the two of them alone. She still didn’t understand what that meant.

“I’ll see you soon.”

Smiling at him, she returned the sentiment before heading outside.

Eddie was waiting for her. “Hey, there you are. We were worrying you’d fallen in.”

“Sorry, I just wanted a bit of time alone.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Eddie nodded. “Look, I don’t know if you’re up to it, but Shawn asked if you could visit him in his office? He said he wants to discuss your kidnapping case. If you don’t want to go, he can meet you another day. It didn’t sound urgent.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll go.” Vanya agreed easily, wanting to put some space between herself and Five. While she’d promised to think about his proposal, she knew she would have to say no. The risk was too great, her powers too unstable, but he didn’t seem prepared to hear that just yet. “Where’s his office?”

“Here, I’ll show you.”

Leading her upstairs, she was soon ushered into Shawn’s office. It was much sparser than Reginald’s. The only items on the walls was a framed diploma and a photograph of Shawn meeting the mayor.

“Hey, Vanya. How are you holding up?” Shawn asked, offering her a chair.

Taking a seat, she repeated what she had told Jamie and Eddie. “I’m a bit confused. And worried.”

“I’m not surprised!” Shawn exclaimed. “I know Reginald Hargreeves was a difficult man but when we arrived and found you’d been locked in that _chamber_. I was shocked.”

“What happened yesterday?” Vanya asked.

“We got a call from a journalist who snuck into the Academy. Apparently, when you were under attack, the power was cut, and the back-up generator was switched off, which disabled all the alarms. They entered from the rear kitchen door. I’m sure you’re aware that your house is often visited by journalists. One saw the door was open and took a chance. He had intended to take a quick photograph of the first room he saw, but when he saw all the lights were off, he decided to explore further. Found the children’s rooms, and that’s when he saw…” Shawn broke off. “Well. He knew he had to call the police, even at the risk of being arrested. Considering what he stopped by making that phone call, the police are being lenient with him. Who knows what could have happened between you going in the chamber and the social service team coming by the next day. But what matters is you’re safe now.”

Vanya fidgeted in her chair. She wanted to believe she was safe – she _did_ feel safe to an extent, safer in the police station than at the Academy, anyway. There was one chief concern, however.

“What is it?” Shawn asked, noticing her discomfort. “Vanya, if you’re worried about your father being released I can promise you there is no lawyer in the known universe greasy enough to slide him out of this mess.”

“No, no, I’m not worried about him.”

“What is it then?”

She decided to be blunt. “Are you going to drug me? I mean, I wouldn’t blame you if you did. I know my powers are dangerous…”

Shawn raised his hands, imploring her to stop. “Vanya, no one will drug you. For a start, it’s illegal to administer medication or drugs to a person without informing them. Not to mention the ethical implications, but – _no_. No one will drug you.”

“My powers,” Vanya sighed. “They’re dangerous. You saw what I did.”

She felt it was her duty to keep reminding people of that fact. She hadn’t had an outburst since last night, exhausted from everything that had happened, but her strength would return soon.

“An accident.” He told her sternly. “But you are right. Your powers could pose a risk. And I won’t lie, if they appear to get out of control we may advise you to take the drug again. However, we would never administer it without informing you. And not before we do more tests on its effects. You’re in the state’s care now, it’s our responsibility to keep you safe.”

“I don’t know how to control my powers. I’m not like my siblings, I’ve never been trained. I should just take them now. Before anyone else gets hurt.”

“If you’ve never been trained before, maybe now’s the time to start,” Shawn suggested.

“What do you mean?”

Opening a drawer in his desk, Shawn pulled out a folder. “This wasn’t going to be revealed to your family until after Hargreeves’ trial ended however, given your powers, perhaps it is something we should talk about now.”

After a moment of hesitation, he placed it before her.

There was a circle on the front with an internal symbol resembling the letter ‘m’ written in cursive English. “What is this?”

“An investigation was launched when forty-three woman spontaneously gave birth on the 1st of October 1989. Some of these children were abandoned. Their mothers were – _unsurprisingly_ – traumatised by what had happened and, fearing accusations of giving birth out of wedlock, left the children wherever they had given birth. Some were dropped off at hospitals. Others were given up for adoption. A few were kept. Several died. We don’t know how many children there were total – as Luther and Five evidenced, some women had multiple births so it’s difficult for us to find out. It was a worldwide phenomenon however and, fearing a repeat, countries shared their intel. In the United States, we called our investigation Project Mithras.”

Vanya looked at the symbol again.

“In mythology, Mithras was birthed from stone,” Shawn explained. “Miraculous conception – it seemed appropriate. The people on the Project coordinated with other groups abroad. They were able to recover some babies who died and interviewed several mothers. Then, several years later, to the surprise of everyone, they found one of the children alive. He was living in the U.S., in Washington state. His parents had kept him, raised him. Then one day,” he flipped open the folder, “a fire ravaged their home, killing them both. The boy hiked four miles to the nearest town and reported that he had started it. When asked how, he said he did it with his mind. His birth date was noted, and a flag was raised to the Project. He’s been with them for the last two years and later two more children were found. The older they get, the stronger their powers become, making them more visible.”

“Does that mean mine could be stronger now than when I was young?” Vanya asked nervously, looking at the burnt-out remains of the boy’s home.

“Possibly. The Project’s understanding of how your powers work is still limited. They contacted your Father in the hopes of collaboration but he rebuffed their attempts. Sensibly, the Project didn’t mention having contact with other children. Maybe he would have been more interested then and, having seen some of his training methods for your siblings, that could have led to some mistakes.”

“These other children, they’re like us?”

“Yes,” Shawn said, pulling out another photograph. There were three children stood together smiling. No uniforms, no tattoos on their forearms. They were the same age as Vanya and her siblings, yet they seemed younger – perhaps because they were never burdened with miserable upbringings.

“Could – does this mean you could train me too?”

“I’m not a member of the Project. Not officially, anyway. I liaise with them through my duties with the FBI. I have a contact there named Frank. I could ask him to…”

“Yes, please,” Vanya said eagerly. “ _Please_. I want to learn. Before – before I hurt anyone else.”

Hurting someone had quickly become her biggest fear.

Shawn nodded. “I understand your desire, Vanya. But you should understand that the Project has already been contacted about what is happening, and they declined to bring the Umbrella Academy in. We contacted them yesterday when we were looking for alternatives to foster care. Given your siblings' notoriety, it was decided it would put the other children in danger. As you’re still relatively unknown – unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the media got some photographs of you – still, it could be possible.”

“Does that mean I’d have to go alone? I wouldn’t be able to see them again?”

“No. The Project discussed bringing the Umbrella Academy in at a future date. Once the media begins to forget about the Umbrella Academy. That could take a few years, however. They are rather notorious.”

Could she do that? Leave behind her family? Her closest friends?

How many of them were her friends though? There was Five and Ben, they would be hard to leave behind. A somewhat tolerant relationship with Klaus, although that could dissolve if he was in a bad mood. The other three certainly wouldn’t miss her.

Was her attachment to them worth putting them in jeopardy? She wouldn’t have a family at all if she killed them.

“What about my birth-mother? Would you still look for her?”

Shawn cleared his throat and reached into his desk for another folder. “That was actually what I asked you to come in here for.”

“I thought you wanted to talk about my kidnapping?” She asked, confused. If Shawn knew something about her birth-mother, why wouldn’t he have mentioned it in their earlier meeting?

“A slight lie, I’m afraid.” He grimaced. “I wanted a chance to speak with you privately, I thought you might prefer to get this information alone instead of with your siblings.”

“You found my mother?” Vanya said, letting a modicum of hope in despite her better judgement.

“Project Mithras found her years ago. Not long after you had been born, actually. Tatiana Stanislavski. She was sixteen when she gave birth to you in a municipal swimming bath in central Moscow. She initially took you in and seemed determined to care for you, despite the shock of your arrival. When Reginald Hargreeves turned up two days later however, her parents pressured her into giving you up for adoption.”

“She didn’t want to give me up?” She asked, feeling that hope blossom.

“No. She was very clear about that in her testimony.” He said as he handed over a photo.

There was a woman who looked very much like her, sitting in a chair. The room was dim, the furniture was worn, much like her expression. She looked tired, she looked defeated. Staring into the camera, Vanya traced all the features they shared. Her hair was thick and dark like her own. The tips of their noses were equally rounded. Her forehead was wide, as Vanya’s was when it wasn’t hidden by her bangs. Their eyes were searching.

“She’s beautiful,” Vanya mumbled to herself, stroking the woman’s face with the tip of her finger.

“She tried to move on after your birth but became obsessed with finding you. She tried to reach out to Hargreeves, to learn about what had happened to you. But he had left no details when he took you. Her parents had taken a lot of the money Hargreeves paid for you with, and with what was left she searched. When she found Project Mithras, she thought we could finally track you down but – the world didn’t know you existed.”

“But, when she saw the Umbrella Academy on the news she must have recognised Father?” Vanya asked. “He was in every newspaper in the world. She must have known him?”

“Vanya,” Shawn breathed, reaching out a hand. “Marina committed suicide one year after contacting the Project. On what would have been your ninth birthday.”

Her hope died then and, with it, a ringing was left in her ears. “No.”

“I’m so sorry. They assured her they would keep looking for you but she gave up hope. She’d used up the remainder of her money, she was ostracised from her family for not moving on. She had no friends, nowhere else to go.”

The first tear splattered onto the photograph and Vanya hastily wiped it away, not wanting to ruin the only picture she had. They continued to fall however and Shawn left her to mourn in silence. It was only when the first strike of lightning sounded that she realised the mistake of letting herself feel. The office was dark now, the clouds had rolled in and drowned out the sun.

“No.” She told herself sternly, saying it with a determination she had never known before. “I want to join the Project. I _need_ to join. I can live without seeing my siblings for a few years. I mean, I can always write to them or call, can’t I?”

“Of course.” Shawn agreed. “Although we are trying to keep the Project’s activities quiet. For the sake of the other children…”

“Tell them I got put in foster care.” Vanya shrugged, not caring about honesty, not caring about promises. She needed to get her powers under control. She needed to get away from the people she cared about before she became like that boy and accidentally killed them.

“Are there any personal effects you would like from your home?” Shawn asked dubiously, still trying to judge her resolve.

“My violin.” Vanya shrugged, thinking back to her sterile bedroom now stained red and trying to contemplate whether there was anything in there worth preserving. Something which wouldn’t remind her of all the terrible days she had spent there. “There’s a book I wouldn’t mind having, but it was probably destroyed with my room. Nothing else.”

“I’ll send an agent to the property and ask him to collect anything from your room which is still intact.” He promised before sighing. “Vanya, are you sure about this? Leaving your family is a lot to consider. Are you certain you wouldn’t like to take a day to think about it?”

Vanya shook her head resolutely. “A day thinking about it is another day I could lose control. I’m sure.”

“I’ll call Frank then,” Shawn said. “It’s likely you will have to leave fairly quickly. Any longer and you would have to go into the foster system to avoid attracting attention from the press.”

“I understand,” Vanya replied, catching his eye and the doubt which remained there. Shawn was taken aback by the fortitude which met him when he looked at her, a flash of white visible as she resolutely told him: “I said, I understand. Make the call. I’ll go as soon as I can. I’ll apologise to them later.”

As he dialled she sent out a quiet thought to Five, praying he would forgive her and resolving to contact him to explain herself as soon as she was clear from the building.

* * *

“Is this seat taken?”

Five glanced up at the tall blonde, her hair almost white, gesturing to the plastic seat beside him.

“No.”

Setting down her briefcase, she crossed over her legs – bumping his in the process.

“Oh, sorry.” She said, laughing lightly.

He ignored her, resuming his glare at the door leading to the break room. Vanya was in there with her _cops_.

“Aren’t you one of those super kids?” The woman asked, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out a gold cigarette case.

“Yes.” Five replied curtly. He glanced at all the empty chairs around them and cursed the woman’s inability to sit in any of those. Ideally, the ones furthest from him.

Pulling out a cigarette, she tapped the end lightly against the case. “Funny.”

“What?” He sighed, wishing she would shut up. He wasn’t in the mood for idle chitchat, he just needed Vanya to come out of that room and agree to run away with him. His body thrummed with energy, waiting for her before it could be let loose.

“I thought you all came as a group special. And yet, I just saw one of you leaving the building.”

That perked his attention, but he tried not to let it show. In all likelihood, she just saw one of their fans wearing a cheap knock-off version of their uniform. Unless one of them was trying to run away. Maybe Luther, in the deluded chance he could find evidence to exonerate their father.

“Yes, I remember it now. Had a hood pulled up, but I recognised her. That little mousy one your Father unexpectedly pulled out of his pocket. What did the papers say her name was?” She mused to herself, placing the cigarette between her lips.

Five jumped up from his chair and threw open the door to the break room.

Eddie and Jamie were there, but they didn’t look at him. They didn’t do anything. Neither did the police officer in the corner; the coffee he was pouring into his cup frozen midstream from the pot. Looking around, he saw no movement from anyone. No one except the woman still sitting outside, observing him.

He approached her warily, watching the smoke curl before her face.

“Who are you?”

“Did I not introduce myself?” She said chipperly. “How rude of me. Here, have a business card.”

Taking the card from her gloved fingers, he flipped it open and read the inscription: _Handler, Temps Commission_.

The Handler kept her eyes on his. “Don’t you want to know where your sister has gone?”

“If you’ve done anything to her…” He threatened, stalking closer.

Mockingly holding up his hands, she assured him, “I had nothing to do with it.” Leaning forward on her elbows, watching him eagerly, she whispered, “Would you like to know who did?”

He wasn’t willing to trust the woman in the slightest, but his fear of disappointing Vanya a second time forced him to ask. “Who?”

She gave him a beaming smile, her red lipstick making her look predatory as her teeth were bared. Clicking open her briefcase, the Handler pulled out a picture and handed it to him. It was a copy of Agent Holdsworth’s ID.

“He’s an FBI agent.”

“He’s a _fraud_.” The Handler corrected, still sounding like she was enjoying this interaction far too much.

“Why would he…”

“Why would anyone want a superpowered child, so powerful the creator of the Umbrella Academy feared her?” She snickered. “Why indeed?”

“How do you know about that?” Five demanded. Vanya’s powers weren’t public knowledge, no one outside that building should know about them.

“You’re asking all the wrong questions, Number Five.” The Handler replied, tapping the ash from her cigarette onto her business card. He looked down at it.

“What’s the Temps Commission?”

“There you go.” She grinned patronisingly. Quickly, this woman was becoming one of his least favourite people in the world. And given the assortment of disappointments in his family and the variety pack of criminals he faced on a weekly basis, that was saying something. “This briefcase enables us to travel through _time_. We maintain order, ensure that important events happen when they’re supposed to. Your sister’s powers were never meant to be triggered – because she was never meant to be kidnapped. Someone is going to inordinate lengths to change the history of the Umbrella Academy.”

“You’re saying Agent Holdsworth kidnapped my sister?”

“He was a part of the movement which did.”

“And why would they do that?”

“Your sister is the most powerful child to be born to the forty-three. Anyone who has her, who can manipulate her into trusting them – say by saving her from kidnappers while their family lounges around the banks of the Seine…”

“We didn’t lounge…”

She waved a hand, depositing more ash as she did. “Yes, yes.”

“So she’s powerful. What do they want her to do?”

“To destroy the Temps Commission. These people, the others Agent Holdsworth – as he’s calling himself now – works with, have been meddling with time. Stealing items of importance, selling them on. Altering important events to throw things in their favour. They’ve amassed a significant amount of power and influence, but they’re still worried about our technology. That we’ll catch up to them and put a stop to their anarchy. They’re looking to protect themselves and they know, even an organisation as powerful as us, can’t get past Vanya Hargreeves.”

“Vanya would never help someone like that.” Five said. “She’s a good person.”

“Yes, she is a good person. That is her very undoing. Good people have a tendency to protect the people they care for. Believe them when they spin lies. Ignore their gut to follow their heart. Good people can do the worst things – their naivety is their undoing. Your sister doesn’t have the experience you and your siblings do. She doesn’t realise how many people out there are fighting for their own agendas. Vanya will fall for Holdsworth’s lies. What am I saying? She already has. She wouldn’t have left with him otherwise.”

The Handler watched him eagerly. “She should have stayed with you.”

“How do I get her back?”

Pursing her lips, pretending to deliberate, she picked up the suitcase and laid it on her lap. “I have a team working to track Agent Holdsworth’s movements. We can go to the Temps Commission and see what they have. That is,” she had to suppress a manic smile, “if you have no objections to time travel?”

“I go with you and you’ll lead me to Vanya?”

“You have my word.”

As she led him away – an arm around Five’s shoulder that he only just tolerated – the Handler allowed a slow smirk to grow. While the timeline would have to be ultimately corrected, she couldn’t help but be interested to see where it would go. But personally, she hoped it led straight to their mole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, this is the last chapter, I'm have no intentions to continue. I'm getting a bit worn with TUA to be honest, I think because it's so long since we got any content from them. Oh and I don't think anyone has picked this up yet, but Frank in the last chapter and mentioned in this one, is the same Frank in Metamorphosis (another story in this series) who is trying to stop the Apocalypse. My idea with this series was different ways the timeline would be affected, stopping the apocalypse. 
> 
> Anyway. I hope you enjoyed the story!


End file.
